RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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defender Micky van de Ven believes Tottenham Hotspur have “new ambition” after a £237 million ($316 million) summer spending spree and has promised more entertaining football this season under Roberto De Zerbi.
After Spurs narrowly avoided relegation on the final day of the 2025-26 Premier League campaign, majority owners the Lewis family promised to be “all in” to fund the required rebuild and six arrivals have followed.
Tottenham have broken their transfer record twice, firstly for £85 million midfielder Mateus Fernandes before a £100 million package secured Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United, and Van de Ven acknowledged Europe is the aim for a club which has finished 17th two years in a row.
“It’s really good that you can see the club has made some changes,” Van de Ven told British media on Spurs’ pre-season tour of Australia.
“They have brought a really good new manager, in my opinion, and some really good new signings. You can see the club has new ambition. It’s something that’s really important for players that have been there for a long time.
“Spurs is a team that needs to play Europe every year, so obviously the European spots are something we are going to aim for. The most important thing is we play our football and that we are a difficult team to play against.”
It has been 12 months of change at Tottenham with long-serving chairman Daniel Levy exiting in September, months after a Europa League triumph which ended a 17-year trophy drought.
Levy’s departure was followed by another spell of poor form, which resulted in Thomas Frank being dismissed in February before interim boss Igor Tudor only lasted seven games.
However, with the Lewis family holding more power and chief executive Vinai Venkatesham tasked with turning around Spurs’ fortunes, De Zerbi was hired in March and Van de Ven backed the Italian to bring back the attacking flair lacking under Frank.
Van de Ven added: “It’s going to be different compared to the former manager we had last season. It’s going to be more with the ball, more playing football. I think it’s going to be more enjoyable for people to watch playing offensive football.”
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