Pundit says ‘special’ 22-year-old Spurs player’s passing is almost as good as Liverpool star

Add as preferred source on Google

Janusz Michallik suggested that there is absolutely no question that Tottenham Hotspur have a special youngster in their ranks who is already one of the Premier League’s best in his position.

Spurs made a real statement in the race to finish in the top-four on Sunday. Four second-half goals from Ange Postecoglou’s side saw them blow Aston Villa away.

It was not a perfect afternoon for Tottenham. They were not at their best in the first-half. And they also lost Micky van de Ven to injury shortly after the interval.

Micky van de Ven labelled ‘special’ after Tottenham win

It appeared to be a situation Spurs were bracing themselves for with Radu Dragusin ready almost immediately.

Dragusin played well after coming on. But of course, Tottenham fans will be hoping that the news on van de Ven is positive in the coming days.

Van de Ven has a frightening amount of pace. So it would be a big setback to lose the Dutchman for any lengthy period of time.

And speaking to ESPN, Janusz Michallik believes that the Tottenham summer signing has already developed into one of the best around right now at centre-back.

“There’s no doubt that he’s special. Defensively, you can argue he’s the best in the league. You can also say, for sure, he’s one of the best defenders in terms of going forward. If you compare him to, in terms of distribution, Van Dijk, maybe he’s missing that part. He’s not far away. So I think it’s a loss. It’s a loss because it’s an important run-in for Spurs right now, because they desperately want to be top-four,” he said.

“It’s a big miss, because as I’ve said, and it’s worth repeating, the two blocks and recovery on Ollie Watkins, remember that, third or fourth minute, that just tells you everything about van de Ven. Not just the recovery, because he was making up a mistake from his teammate. And he still covered ground on somebody like Ollie Watkins and blocked that shot. So he’s a special defender for sure.”

January signing now needs to step up

Ange Postecoglou will hope that Radu Dragusin is champing at the bit to take his opportunity. He has had to be patient since arriving in the January transfer window. But he will surely have a great chance of starting at Fulham next weekend.

It would be a gamble to use van de Ven at Craven Cottage, particularly if they are wary of him going away on international duty later this month.

With that, Dragusin needs to show exactly Tottenham were so desperate to sign him at the start of the year.

Clearly, he has huge shoes to fill.