Tottenham slap world-record price tag on Micky van de Ven amid Premier League interest

Tottenham value sought-after Micky van de Ven in excess of £100million, talkSPORT understands.

Van de Ven is believed to be pushing to leave Spurs this summer to join an elite club in the Premier League or in Europe.

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But Spurs will not make it easy for the Dutchman, who is under contract until 2029.

Liverpool are one of the clubs credited with an interest in Van de Ven, but are unlikely to repeat their spending spree from last summer.

Van de Ven was one of former Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou‘s first signings, joining from Wolfsburg in 2023.

The 24-year-old has gone on to make 80 appearances for Tottenham and even donned the skipper’s armband on multiple occasions this term, reflecting his importance and leadership within the squad.

Would Van de Ven become a world record signing?

Should anyone cough up £100m for Van de Ven, he would become the most expensive defender in football history.

That world record still belongs to Harry Maguire following his £80m move to Manchester United in 2019.

News of Van de Ven’s inclination to leave north London comes amid a turbulent season for him under Postecoglou’s replacement Thomas Frank.

Van de Ven’s frustrations come to the fore

Following a loss to Chelsea in November, Van de Ven snubbed a handshake from Frank as he walked off the pitch.

However, Frank later revealed Van de Ven and Djed Spence, who also did not shake his manager’s hand, delivered an unprompted apology the day after.

Van de Ven then had a tense exchange with a handful of Tottenham supporters who had travelled south to watch a 3-2 loss to Bournemouth.

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A Tottenham staff member had to shepherd Van de Ven away, although the defender still issued a few choice words.

Speaking after the match, Frank sympathised with the supporters and said: “I’m disappointed, so I understand that other people will be disappointed.”

Since the Bournemouth result, Tottenham’s league form has continued to prove patchy as they sit 14th after 22 games with 27 points.

The poor league performance leaves them at real risk of missing out on European football, let alone the Champions League next season.

Should that eventuate, Van de Ven’s desire to seek pastures new could grow deeper.

One pundit who has backed the 24-year-old to move on from Tottenham is talkSPORT’s Gabby Agbonlahor, who urged Van de Ven to avoid putting pen to paper on a contract extension.

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“I feel sorry for him in the sense that he deserves to be playing at a bigger club,” Agbonlahor said on talkSPORT in January.

“He won’t stay at Spurs.

“Don’t sign a new deal there, Van de Ven. You deserve better than Spurs.”

Fellow talkSPORT host Alan Brazil concurred and felt Van de Ven ‘could just slot in at Man City.’

A move to City seems unlikely for Van de Ven given the club has just signed Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace, as he joined a centre-back department that includes Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and John Stones.

However, a switch to Liverpool – who had a deal in place for Guehi on deadline day last summer, only for Palace to pull the plug – seems more fitting for Van de Ven.

Ibrahima Konate is out of contract at the end of the season and there is uncertainty whether he remains at Anfield while his partner, Reds skipper Virgil van Dijk, isn’t getting any younger at 34 years of age.

Yet any decision from Liverpool to swoop for Van de Ven will need to wait until next summer given they forked out over £200m to sign Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak.