Jan Paul van Hecke has left the Netherlands national team camp over the September international break with an injury, as the center back reportedly had to exit a training session early. He apparently only lasted seven minutes before being seen talking to manager Xavi and sitting on the bench. Van Hecke has now formally withdrawn and will head back to Tottenham Hotspur to recover.
The nature of the injury is unknown, nor is the severity, and he will have about 10 days to rest before Tottenham have to face their biggest opponents of this difficult season yet in Manchester United, who are also struggling, albeit much less so, after an initially brilliant run under Michael Carrick to return to the Champions League.
While Van Hecke's defending has been a bit up and down this season, his quality on the ball has been everything Roberto De Zerbi asked for. Van Hecke is easily the best passing center back in the Premier League by the numbers, and in terms of his actual ball progression in breaking the lines, he has been Spurs best progressive passer.
Sandro Tonali has not looked like a 100 million pound signing yet
One of their other best progressive passers is Sandro Tonali. Although Tonali had terrible performances to start the season against Brentford and Newcastle United, he has quietly but steadily improved his performances. Tonali is also one of the leaders in the Premier League in line breaking passes and passes in the final third, though his actual chance creation and key passes are below average. His defending has been an even bigger highlight, winning the ball more often and showing better instincts than even Van Hecke.
Tonali, though, has not quite dominated games like a 100 million pound player should, and it is telling that a center back is earning more plaudits for his work on the ball than the Italian international is. Should Van Hecke miss time, Spurs do have two other great passing center backs in Marcos Senesi and Tosin Adarabioyo who can start next to MIcky van de Ven.
At the same time, those players, not even Senesi, are as good at passing as Van Hecke. So if the Dutch international is to miss time with this injury, then that is going to put even more pressure on Sandro Tonali to be that true, larger-than-life presence that Roberto De Zerbi and Tottenham Hotspur paid 100 million pounds to Newcastle United to see.
Tonali has shown that he is a capable starter for Spurs, but Spurs are paying him to be a leader and a game-breaking. Without Van Hecke helping out behind him, more responsibility will be on Tonali, and Spurs will need to see that on display against a strong opponent in Manchester United after the break.
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