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When Micky van de Ven was coming through at Volendam, the Dutch club’s coach said he was too slow to become a pro. Then he became the fastest player on record.

When Van de Ven joined Spurs in the summer of 2023 he was told to wave goodbye to dreams of winning silverware. Now he is one step from delivering the club’s first trophy since 2008 – and again proving the naysayers wrong.

Doubts and criticism have been fueling the Netherlands international’s turbo engine since his mid-teens and he admits: “I still use them now. At Volendam there were people who didn’t have the trust in me and now I am standing here. I think I proved them wrong.

“But to be honest it was my dad, my mum and my sister who were the ones who kept pushing me.”

Dad Marcel was an undercover agent for a serious crimes unit who has more recently appeared on a reality TV show, Hunted, in which he tracks down contestants who have gone on the run. And the calm, analytical mind required to crack cases have been passed down a generation.

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Being unflustered is imperative in Ange Postecoglou’s daring system and Van de Ven has built a relationship with Cristian Romero that he describes as “an unbelievable connection.“

He adds: “We just feel each other in the game. If he does something, I know how I need to cover him, how I can help him. On the other side it’s the same — when I have the ball, he knows how to cover me. He knows how to help in every situation.

"That is just the feeling we have grown into each other.”

An Ajax fan, Van de Ven was in the Amsterdam crowd that saw Spurs stage the most dramatic of comebacks to reach the 2019 final – only for to win another all-English decider. He understands how ’s history looms large but is utterly convinced that this group can change the culture and direction – in spite of the barbs from “banter people” and social media drones.

“Everybody knows that when you join Tottenham, you get the words of ‘Ah, you’re not going to win a trophy’, that you will be trophyless the rest of your career,” he adds. “But all the guys that came up here were like, ‘We’re going to change something about this club.’

“It was the gaffer and it was the whole squad who said, ‘We’re going to come here and change something.’ For us, it’s the job now to make this happen in Bilbao. We all know we play for a big club. This club deserves trophies. That’s the truth.

“If you look at the quality in the squad, we deserve a trophy. It has been a tough season but we can end this perfectly by winning a prize.”

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