Tottenham star Micky van de Ven has said he is open to the idea of being paired up with Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk by the Netherlands moving forwards.
ESPN have a short interview with the Tottenham defender today in which he admits he’s open to being paired up with eh ‘fantastic’ Liverpool defender.
The Netherlands squad is currently jam packed with central defensive talent, with Van Dijk continuing to lead his country alongside the likes of Nathan Ake, Mathijs de Ligt, Stefan de Vrij, Jorel Hato and others.
That range of talent available to manager Ronald Koeman means Van de Ven has often been used out of position by his country so far, despite shining at Tottenham as a central defender.
Of his eight appearances for his country so far only one has been a centre-back, a 10-minute appearance in a 2-1 loss to France last year, which was also his debut.
Since then, each and every one of his appearances has been at left-back, with more established stars such as the Liverpool captain preferred in the centre of defence.
Injuries mean that could change during this international break and Van de Ven is more than happy to be paired up with Van Dijk if that’s what’s required.
“I’ll let the coach decide if he wants to do that,” he said when asked about calls for Koeman to make the pairing happen.
“We’ll have to see. Virgil is a fantastic defender, so I wouldn’t mind playing alongside him.”
And what about playing left-back, a position he’s only played in 17 times during his club career to date? It seems the Tottenham man is happy to do what’s required.
“I can play in both positions. You can fill in for yourself,” he added.
“I prefer to play the central defender. But that’s logical when you look at the games I played for Tottenham and Wolfsburg.
“Nathan is injured and Jurrien is injured. I can also play the left back, so that’s not a problem.”
