Micky van de Ven has warned their Premier League rivals to be prepared to see a new Tottenham Hotspur after their ambitious summer spending spree.
Spurs have already spent £237million on signing Sandro Tonali (£100m), Mateus Fernandes (£85m) and Jan Paul van Hecke (£52m). They have also brought in Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi on free transfers after back-to-back 17th-placed finishes.
Those acquisitions have helped convince Van de Ven and Spurs’ existing players that they are ready to forget their relegation concerns and focus on a European push instead.
Speaking in Australia, where Spurs are set to face friendlies against Sydney FC and Chelsea this week, the 25-year-old Dutchman said: ‘It’s really good that you can see the club has made some changes. They have brought a really good new manager, and some really good new signings.
‘You can see the club has new ambition. It’s something that’s really important for players that have been there for a long time. It’s better when you go with a fresh mind into the new season.
‘Last season was a stressful season so to leave everything of that behind and go into the new season fresh means a lot. Spurs is a team that needs to play Europe every year, so obviously the European spots are something we are going to aim for.
Micky van de Ven has warned their Premier League rivals to be prepared to see a new Spurs
Spurs have spent £237m on signings including Sandro Tonali (left) and Mateus Fernandes
‘The most important thing is we play our football, and that we are a difficult team to play against.’
Spurs’ summer signings may help convince Van de Ven to sign a new contract. His current deal runs until 2029. It has been reported that talks could open soon.
Spurs kickstarted their pre-season tour with a 2-0 win over A-League champions Auckland FC on Sunday. Having moved on from New Zealand to Australia, Van de Ven added that Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi will be bringing a brand new style of football – one far superior to that overseen by his predecessors, Igor Tudor and Thomas Frank.
Asked if we will see a different Spurs under De Zerbi, Van de Ven said: ‘I know that for sure.
‘It’s going to be different compared to the former manager we had last season. It’s going to be more with the ball I think, more playing football. I think it’s going to be more enjoyable also for people to watch, when playing offensive football.
‘The last couple of weeks of last season, you saw he brought a lot of passion into our group, a lot mentality wise, passion wise, on the pitch. It is something we needed because everybody was a little bit down.
‘We started to play a lot with the ball, because he loves us to be on the ball, he loves to play the football he wants to play, and that’s also something I really enjoy.
‘Hopefully it will be (a better season). It’s something we are going to work really hard on. Make some differences because last season was a bit unacceptable from our side.’
