Tim Sherwood already not convinced by one new Tottenham signing

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Tim Sherwood wasn’t entirely convinced by new Tottenham Hotspur signing Micky Van de Ven after his debut on Sunday.

Sherwood was on The Kelly & Wrighty Show and speaking about Tottenham’s first game of the season.

Ange Postecoglou selected four debutants for Sunday’s match against Brentford, with new captain Son Heung-min leading the side out.

One of those players was Micky Van de Ven, who only arrived at the club a few days prior.

The Dutch Under-21 international was tasked with dealing with the likes of Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo which is never an easy task.

It was made even harder by the fact that he lost first-choice centre-back partner Cristian Romero to a head injury during the first half.

However, alongside Davinson Sanchez he helped Spurs get their first point on the board.

Sherwood admitted he wasn’t quite sure about Van de Ven after watching him at the weekend.

He was impressed with his straight-line speed but didn’t think he was the most dynamic player on the pitch.

Sherwood unsure about Van de Ven

Speaking about Tottenham’s defensive options, Sherwood said: “It’s not about individuals at centre-half it’s about partnerships.

“I hoping that [Micky] Van de Ven is the answer. To me he looks a bit wooden, I think he’s very quick, he’s six foot five.

“I’m just saying what I see, I don’t know a lot about him, hopefully, he’s a lot better than what I think, but he looks very wooden on the ball.

“Quite slow on the turn, very quick in a straight line, enormously quick.

“Hopefully [Cristian] Romero and him can be the partnership that they need.”

Sherwood’s criticism of Van de Ven’s debut for Tottenham seems very harsh.

There were moments in the match where he looked very comfortable in possession and was regularly stepping forward to create space in Tottenham’s build-up play.

He had also barely worked with his new teammates and is likely to have spent much of his time playing alongside Romero in training in preparation for the game.

Postecoglou said after the match that Van de Ven isn’t even fully fit yet.

There should be much more to come from the young Dutchman this season.

Given the way Spurs play, he’s going to have a lot of defensive responsibility given Postecoglou’s priority appears to be on creative, attacking football.