Micky van de Ven says Tottenham's summer points to a genuine reset, not just another rebuild. The club spent a record £237m, Roberto de Zerbi arrived in late March, and the defender thinks that mix has already changed the mood. Van de Ven was blunt about where the club had been. Last season, he said, was "stressful" and "unacceptable".
Tottenham's reset after 17th place
The scale of the summer makes the point for him. Tottenham finished 17th in the Premier League in back-to-back seasons and ended the 2025 campaign with 41 points from 38 matches. Against that backdrop, a club-record £237m outlay is hard to dress up as anything other than a serious attempt to move the standard up.
Van de Ven did not try to soften the review of last season. "Last season was a stressful season, unacceptable from our side, so to leave all of that behind and go into the new season fresh means a lot," he said. That is a fair line from a player who has just lived through two poor league finishes and now has to judge the response rather than the excuses.
De Zerbi's impact on the group
The new manager has also changed the feel of the place. De Zerbi was appointed in late March, after a season that had already run off the rails, and Van de Ven says he has brought "a lot of passion into our group, a lot in terms of mentality and passion on the pitch." That is the sort of language clubs use when they want a clean break from what came before.
There is also a football reason for the optimism. Van de Ven thinks Tottenham will be "more with the ball" and "more about playing football", with a style that should be "more enjoyable for people to watch because we'll be playing offensive football." It is an attacking promise, but one rooted in how he says the team will be asked to operate, not in any grand claim about instant success.
The club's final five league games brought 10 points, which at least hints that the season did not end in total drift. Whether that form carries into the new campaign is still to be seen, but the bigger change is already obvious: Tottenham have spent like a club that wants the standard raised, and Van de Ven sounds like someone who expects them to play that way too.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
