'Best I've ever seen': Gary Neville likens 'incredible' Tottenham star to Gareth Bale
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For any Tottenham Hotspur player to be likened to Gareth Bale is about as great a compliment that can be paid to someone donning that bright white shirt.
And as Ange Postecoglou’s side deepened Erik ten Hag’s woe with a spectacular – albeit red-card aided – 3-0 win over Manchester United, Red Devils icon Gary Neville saw glimpses of the Welsh wizard in one of those victorious Spurs stars.
It was not Brennan Johnson, another jet-heeled Welshman who has silenced the critics with goals in four successive games.
It certainly wasn’t Timo Werner either.
The Tottenham speedster’s feet again proving to be faster than his brain as the German missed two gilt-edge one-on-one opportunities up against Andre Onana.
But as Micky Van de Ven charged through the heart of Man United’s paper-thin midfield and delivered an assist on a silver platter for a grateful Johnson, the only disappointment in Neville’s mind was that the flying Dutchman had performed such a remarkable act of athleticism against his beloved Red Devils.
Gary Neville likens Micky van de Ven to Tottenham icon Gareth Bale
“The run from Van de Ven for the first goal at Old Trafford, it’s probably the best run I’ve ever seen from a centre-back. Certainly live! It was absolutely incredible,” an awe-struck Neville says on the It’s Called Soccer! podcast.
“The actual cross at the end of it was spectacular.
“I’ve got this major problem at the moment with centre-backs rolling their foot on the ball, passing it back to one another, passing it sideways, passing it to the goalkeeper… It’s boring me to death!
“So to actually see a centre-back drive forward with the ball, we don’t see that as much anymore. We don’t tend to see centre-backs driving into space, running with the ball, committing people…”
Van de Ven is the fastest player to have graced the Premier League stage since records began, back in 2020/21. A point Johnson was keen to make after that Old Trafford obliteration.
Unfortunately, we are none the wiser about who would cross the line first between Tottenham’s number 37 – Van de Ven showcasing his ‘absolutely unbelievable’ acceleration once again – and a peak-era Gareth Bale.
Forget Michael Phelps vs that great white shark, this is a race everyone would pay to see.
“He has an unbelievable running style,” adds Neville. “He’s got such power in his running. He’s got such a unique running style for a centre-back.
“It’s almost like a sort of Gareth Bale-style running action.”
Brennan Johnson lauds Van de Ven as Spurs scoring run goes on
Signed from Wolfsburg in a £34 million deal back in the summer of 2023, one-time Liverpool target Van de Ven appears well on his way to becoming the finest left-sided centre-half not only in the Premier League but the whole of Europe.
"I think as soon as he started going, I just thought; ‘There's no one faster arguably in the Premier League than Micky!’,” Johnson beamed after Tottenham’s most impressive win of the season, delighted to receive the easiest of far post tap-ins following an assist for an ages.
"So I think, I knew he wasn't going to stop any time soon. As soon as he got to a position where he could cross it, I knew I had to be there. And, once it came to me and I knew I was free, I might have smiled a little bit before it went in.
"I just had to be in that position so once I was I was happy to put it in."
