Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has been raving about Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven.
Van de Ven has been excellent so far this season as Tottenham sit top of the Premier League table. The Dutchman played 90 minutes in their latest win, away at Crystal Palace last night.
Speaking to Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou for Sky Sports after the game, Carragher claimed that Van de Ven was the best player on the pitch.
“I had to give the Man of the Match and it was a toss up between [James] Maddison and Van de Ven at the back,” said the pundit. “But being a centre-back myself, I’ve been so impressed with him [Van de Ven]. His speed’s frightening isn’t it.”
Why is this relevant to Liverpool, we hear you ask. Well, as plenty of supporters will be aware, Van de Ven was very heavily linked with Liverpool before moving to Tottenham.
And as per reports emerging yesterday, the Reds were actually very, very interested in the 22-year-old indeed.
It’s claimed that the reason things didn’t progress further between Liverpool and Van de Ven was actually because of the wishes of the player himself.
Rather than the Reds not following up on their wish to sign him, the Spurs man reportedly pulled the plug.
His reasons for doing so are said to be related to worries over a lack of potential game time at Liverpool.
And, although it’s probably true that he wouldn’t have come straight into the Reds team, perhaps Jurgen Klopp is being left to regret that now.
In all honesty though, we think that Liverpool won’t be losing too much sleep over this.
They knew Van de Ven was a good player, that’s why they wanted to sign him. That he’s doing well probably won’t be a surprise to them.
The real test for the Spurs man will be how he fares when things inevitably take a downward turn. It’s still very early days.
It could of course be that Van de Ven does end up being a ‘one that got away’ for Liverpool. Carragher certainly seems to think so, and he knows a thing or two about defending.
