SPEEDSTER FIRED UP BY MICKY TAKING

Van de Ven has always proved his critics wrong and hopes to do it again against United

- By Alan Smith

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 Premier League player on record.

When Van de Ven joined Tottenham 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 Holland defender'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.