Young £35m Spurs star has super-famous secret service father - explains uber cool integration into defence

Tottenham Hotspur supporters will be enjoying getting to know the new star of their defence, Micky van de Ven, after his £34.5 million transfer to North London from Wolfsburg this summer.

Relatively little was known about the 22-year-old when he put pen to paper on a lengthy six-year deal. Van de Ven had spent just two years at Wolfsburg, for whom he signed for from Dutch side Volendam.

As the weeks go by this season, it's fair to say that Spurs fans have been impressed with the centre-back's dynamic performances that have helped the side rise to the top of the table, ahead of Champions Manchester City and North London rivals Arsenal after nine fixtures. During that time, Spurs are unbeaten and boast the top flight's second-best defence, even with their free-flowing attacking football.

The Dutchman has been at the centre of that, starting every Premier League match so far, registering four clean sheets and even scoring the winner against Luton earlier this month.

Being such a cool presence on the pitch perhaps runs in the star's blood after it emerged that the player's father is a revered former spy. Marcel Van de Ven is somewhat of a Dutch 007 and he used to work as an undercover agent, fighting serious crime before he retired from the super secretive job.

Van de Ven senior has now taken a much more public role and works as the lead detective for Dutch TV's version of popular gameshow Hunted, as well as running his son's affairs as an agent. The series Hunted sees contestants try and escape a team of pursuers for as long as possible before they are caught.

On top of the TV and agent jobs, Marcel has written several books, including a best-seller. It's reported that the defender's dad met with Ange Postecoglou in London this summer ahead of the player's transfer and green-lighted the move after being charmed by the Australian.

Last month, Van de Ven opened up on his relationship with his famous father and explained the vital role he played when the defender was on the verge of being released by second-tier Volendam when with the under-19s. He told PA: "My dad [Marcel] helped me also a lot at Volendam. It was a difficult situation for me because when people say they don’t trust you when you are 17 years old, maybe you have to look for work or something.

“You have to have a second choice if you can’t make it to be a professional football player and you have to switch. I said to my dad, ‘maybe I have to work,’ and he was like, ‘No! Trust me. One day a person will come, you will get your chance and grab it’. So, I kept working, pushing, pushing, pushing and there was the chance and I grabbed it."