Roberto De Zerbi pushed as hard as he could for Tottenham Hotspur to sign Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton, and even though the signing of the Dutchman has complicated the future of an even bigger gem in teenage center back Luka Vuskovic, Spurs wholeheartedly obliged, bucking a usual trend by spending a whopping 60 million euros to sign the 25 year old despite the player having just one year left on his contract anyway.
But not only does De Zerbi hold a very close relationship with Van Hecke from their days together at Brighton when he first broke out as a top Premier League center back, but De Zerbi is also 100 percent sold on the player being the perfect fit he needs to succeed when building out of the back in his system.
Sure, it was only against lowly Tunisia, but Van Hecke proved De Zerbi right in a massive way with a dominant, even record breaking performance (for this World Cup thus far, at least) in the final 2026 World Cup group stage match for the Netherlands, which was a 3-1 victory.
Jan Paul van Hecke set some high marks at the World Cup
Beyond scoring the goal in the 62nd minute to put the game to bed for the Oranje, Jan Paul van Hecke was crazy dominant on the ball. He had a whopping 145 touches and 130 completed passes against Tunisia, which are both the most of any player at this World Cup so far. And Van Hecke also had 39 passes into the final third, again, the most of any player in this World Cup.
You could say that Van Hecke benefited from facing Tunisia, but the Netherlands are not the only team to face Tunisia this World Cup. And there are teams that are even worse and worse at possessing the ball than this one, too. Plus, Van Hecke isn't the only player on the Netherlands who is known for his quality and ability to pass in possession, yet he topped even the star midfielders of the team in all these stats.
Roberto De Zerbi wanted Van Hecke so badly because he is such a unique player on the ball and can pass better than most midfielders. His ball playing ability may even put Marcos Senesi and captain Cristian Romero to shame. De Zerbi badly wanted Van Hecke for his technical quality and vision, and he was a maestro making his future coach look very, very proud on this day.
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