How Tottenham's thunderbolt Micky 先頭 de Ven became the 首相 League's fastest EVER player... and the club who said he wasn't quick enough

• e-mail

Time spent getting to know the thunderbolt of Tottenham 明らかにする／漏らすd a rise 平等に as 早い, though Micky 先頭 de Ven’s sprint to stardom was not without the 半端物 つまずく, a 特に painful one arriving at 16 years old when told he 欠如（する）d the 速度(を上げる） to 後継する.

It is a ludicrous tale ― how a club in the Dutch second 分割 （機の）カム so の近くに to discarding the defender now 実験（する）ing the shutter 速度(を上げる）s of photographers’ cameras at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.?

Today, he 持つ／拘留するs the?首相 League 記録，記録的な／記録する as its fastest-ever player, 以前 clocked at 23.23mph. 支援する then, he 恐らく 密輸するd lead in his socks, a story which 先頭 de Ven’s father, Marcel, 関係のある to Mail Sport this week.

‘When the Volendam trainer said, “You’re not 急速な／放蕩な enough and not good enough”, I understood that a kid who’s 16 might think, “That’s it. I’m done. I have to go”,’ Marcel said, speaking from his native Netherlands.?

‘But I told him, “This is the best message they are ever going to give you. You know you can play, so play. If you think they are going to send you away, just play. And if they send you away, I will bring you to the club where you can play with your friends. But for now, go on. Do wha t you like. Do what you love. Do what you want. Live your dream”.

Tottenham defender Micky 先頭 de Ven is the fastest player in the history of the 首相 League

But the Dutchman was once nearly 解放（する）d as a 十代の少年少女 for a perceived 欠如（する） of pace

‘When he had that message from the trainer, he was disappointed. At the time, if he 手配中の，お尋ね者 to go to the cafe with his friends, I’d say to him, “承認する mate, if you want to be the king of the cafe this evening, you can do that. But when you go on with training and you follow your dreams, later you will be the king of all the cafes in Holland”. He began to smile.’

Tottenham are the 受益者s of this smiling （短距離で）速く走る人’s 解決する, with one club insider 明らかにする／漏らすing that they （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 Liverpool to 調印する the 22-year-old left-味方するd centre 支援する when he was 存在 perceived as a long-称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語 後継者 to Virgil 先頭 Dijk.

It helped that this whizz-kid from the village of Wormer had a father as supportive as Marcel when 後退s occurred. 静める まっただ中に 大混乱, he is also blessed with 力／強力にするs of 説得／派閥, perfected by years of working as a 交渉者 for the Netherlands Police 機関 同様に as an undercover スパイ／執行官 for a secret 部隊.

Above all, though, he is a loving father who saw how his son never wavered in his 決意 to 後継する when others 示唆するd he 捜し出す an 代案／選択肢 career.

‘We got tickets to go to England, for Liverpool versus 兵器庫,’ Marcel said. ‘Amazing game, 5-1 to Liverpool, December 2018. After, we’re going to the hotel when I thought, “You know what? I’m going to ask him”. I said, “Mick, what are your 計画（する）s if you don’t make it? In the 週末s, you’re training, training, training. It’s 承認する if I give you ?10 to go have fun at the 週末. But what do you want to do? Do you want to go to work?”

‘He told me, “Dad, I don’t want to work. I’m going to train. I’m going to fight. Give me six months, take care of me, and it will come”. I said, “承認する man, I will take care of you. I hope you get your dream”. And you know what? Afte r six months, he got his first 契約 at Volendam. A 抱擁する 契約. After that, he went 直接／まっすぐに into the first team.’

Volendam went on to sell 先頭 de Ven to Wolfsburg in Germany for £3million in 2021. Tottenham 調印するd him for £34.5m, rising to £43m, in 2023, their scouts having 公式文書，認めるd how his 速度(を上げる） would be 決定的な when balls 必然的に 飛行機で行く over Ange Postecoglou’s high line.

刺激（する）s （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 out 競争 from Liverpool to bring the centre-支援する to North London

先頭 de Ven had attracted several suitors for his 業績／成果s with Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga

先頭 de Ven had not forgotten that father-son conversation in Liverpool when he 調印するd for Tottenham, as Marcel 追加するd: ‘I 選ぶd him up from Germany. We were sitting in the car and he said, “Dad, are you going to do something with your life and do I have to take care of you?” I looked at him, smiled, and we laughed for five minutes in the car. It was a dream come true that he was going to that club. I’m very proud. I’ve got so much 尊敬（する）・点 for him.’

Volendam soon （機の）カム to their senses, though it took Wim Jonk arriving as the new 長，率いる coach と一緒に Jasper 先頭 Leeuwen as 冒険的な director for 先頭 de Ven’s fortunes to change in June 2019.

As the former leaders of Ajax’s famed 学院, they …に出席するd an Under 19s game and saw 先頭 de Ven and his 速度(を上げる）. In the words of one former 同僚, Jonk and 先頭 Leeuwen thought: ‘宗教上の s***.’ They 手渡すd him the ‘抱擁する 契約’ について言及するd by Marcel within the week of their arrival and 促進するd him to the Under 21s where he became captain. The first team soon followed.

Josh Flint starred と一緒に 先頭 de Ven in the Volendam defence. ‘I played left 支援する and he played centre 支援する,’ Flint, now playing in the Eredivisie, told Mail Sport. ‘If any balls went over my 長，率いる, I didn’t worry. He could be 10 metres behind the striker and still get there. It was lovely!

‘He was 18, 19, but you could see he was a step above. It was weird because, looking at him, you wouldn’t think he is that quick or strong, but when you get up against him, it’s different. He kept to himself and did what he had to do on the pitch. He’s not the 肉親，親類d of person that wants to be in the news, out partying. He’s a pre tty 焦点（を合わせる）d guy.’

The Dutchman was recognised for his blistering 速度(を上げる） on the pitch from an 早期に age

Several Mail Sport sources were asked for the story behind 先頭 de Ven’s 速度(を上げる） and it turns out the secret is there is no secret. No sprint coach (Postecoglou loathes 軍隊ing his players to run). No 明確な／細部 diet (he likes a ham and cheese omelette at breakfast). No customised boots (he wears Nike 水銀のs). No separate 開会／開廷／会期s at the training ground to turn him into even more of a blur.

自然に, it helps that 先頭 de Ven is a consummate professional, having never been one for 流出／こぼすing out of nightclubs or getting up to no good ― a characteristic that also 控訴，上告d to Tottenham’s scouting department. He is much more comfortable spending his downtime playing ビデオ games such as FC24 ― on which he has an 85 out of 100 率ing for pace which might need 改訂するing for the next 首相 League season ― or going shopping at Selfridges.

Those の近くに to 先頭 de Ven say his 速度(を上げる） is natural, that he had it throughout his childhood and only 簡潔に lost it when he went through a sudden growth spurt which took hi m closer to his 現在の 高さ of 6ft 4in.

He struggled to 対処する with that change as a 欠如（する） of 支配（する）／統制する 侵略するd his 四肢s. 関心d, 先頭 de Ven took it upon himself to practise until he had perfected the sprint that now draws 評価 from Tottenham 支持者s when he turns on those afterburners.

It was in the 3-2 home 勝利，勝つ over Brentford in January that he broke Kyle Walker’s 記録，記録的な／記録する as the fastest player 記録，記録的な／記録するd in the 首相 League, reaching 23.23mph. It was 最高潮の場面d at the time that Usain Bolt 始める，決める the 100m world 記録，記録的な／記録する in 2009 with an 普通の／平均（する） 速度(を上げる） of 23.35mph.

Tottenham did not 始める，決める up 単独の 開会／開廷／会期s to 抽出する even more explosiveness out of his long 脚s upon 調印 him. One club source 特記する／引用するd Michael Owen when explaining why overloading his schedule would run the 危険 of 達成するing the exact opposite.

Though a growth spurt as a 青年 簡潔に 脅すd to take away his natural pace

With 先頭 de Ven having already been sidelined by two hamstring 傷害s this season ― and five of their seven 首相 League losses were （打撃，刑罰などを）与えるd in his absence ― they cannot afford to b reak him.

He is 扱う／治療するd in the same way as everyone else at Tottenham, doing no more than any of his team-mates. Postecoglou likes to separate his squad into position-明確な／細部 groups for 開会／開廷／会期s with his assistants ― Chris Davies takes the 攻撃者s, Ryan Mason takes the midfielders and Matt 井戸／弁護士席s takes the defenders 含むing 先頭 de Ven, 述べるd by a 同僚 as someone who ‘trains like he plays’.

Before Volendam, Wolfsburg and Tottenham, 先頭 de Ven played for his 地元の team in Wormer called WSV’30 and 支援する then, he was a left winger. He has never forgotten his roots, with some of his former coaches 招待するd to London last week to watch the 勝利，勝つ over Nottingham Forest. Fittingly, 先頭 de Ven 得点する／非難する／２０d a scorcher from the left 味方する of the box, 手段d at 77.73mph.

With Amsterdam only a half-hour 運動 from Wormer, 先頭 de Ven grew up watching Ajax と一緒に his father, often using those trips to 熟考する／考慮する the left-footed centre 支援する Jan Vertonghen.

Years later, 先頭 de Ven was sitting in the stands of the Johan Cruyff 円形競技場 on the night when Tottenham reached the 支持する／優勝者s League final 儀礼 of Lucas Moura’s hat-trick, yet to break through at Volendam and still admiring Vertonghen in spite of him now appearing for the 訪問者s.

Like those 星／主役にするs of Ajax, 先頭 de Ven was so sure he would make it as a footballer that he did not hide his dislike of schoolwork.

The 22-year-old had some of his childhood coaches in 出席 as he netted a thunderbolt against Nottingham Forest

When told he had to sit a 地理学 exam, for example, he said: ‘I do not have to learn that because the driver of the players’ bus knows where it is.’

When reminded that the chances of him making it were minute, he replied: ‘Don’t worry, I’m in the one per cent.’

Though he preferred the playground to the classroom, 先頭 de Ven is no dunce. He speaks three languages ― Dutch, German and English ― and wants to 追加する Spanish and French to his vocabulary.

Those at Tottenham’s training ground say he is hugely popular の中で the group and has developed a particular bromance with Timo Werner, the 今後 on 貸付金 from RB Leipzig, while he and James Maddison have 社債d over their love of darts.

It is with 悔いる that Mino Raiola, the 最高の-スパイ／執行官 who passed away in 2022, never got to see how seamlessly his （弁護士の）依頼人 took to the 首相 League. Nor will he get to see how many caps he 勝利，勝つs for the Netherlands 国家の team, the 現在の count standing at two as he 競争相手s 先頭 Dijk, Nathan Ake, Matthijs de Ligt, Stefan de Vrij and more.

にもかかわらず 直面するing stiff 競争 in the 国家の 始める，決める up, 先頭 de Ven has 選ぶd up two caps for the Netherlands

Raiola worked hard to 安全な・保証する 先頭 de Ven that first move to Wolfsburg when Volendam were （刑事）被告 of pricing him out of the 移転, the 論争 結局 ending in a £3m 料金 …を伴ってd by a sell-on 条項. Today, 先頭 de Ven is 代表するd by Raiola 全世界の 管理／経営, whose data and analytics department this week published a treasure trove of 統計（学） which show the 驚くべき／特命の／臨時の 緩和する with which he has embraced English football.

先頭 de Ven’s father, Marcel, 飛行機で行くs to England 週刊誌 to watch his son for Tottenham and will be in Newcastle for today’s lunchtime match. 警告するd that the St James’ Park away end is 据えるd in the heavens, he said he would happily sit on the roof if he had to.

Spoken like any proud father of a player quickly making the 首相 League his home and showing no 調印するs of slowing 負かす／撃墜する.