Tottenham Hotspur paid a premium price for Dutch center back Jan Paul van Hecke. Even though the former Brighton star had just one year left on his contract, Spurs still splurged over 60 million euros, even knowing they would have to lose Luka Vuskovic for just as much back to Brighton in order to make the deal happen.
And that is because they believe in Van Hecke and they believe in Roberto De Zerbi, who urged Spurs to do anything possible to make the transfer happen. De Zerbi and Van Hecke have a very, very close relationship that has been described as a father and son relationship, as the best football of the center back's career came at Brighton under De Zerbi.
Van Hecke and De Zerbi didn't always get along
Funnily enough, though, we now know that this was not always the case. Van Hecke stated that at the beginning of their time together at Brighton, he and De Zerbi actually fought a lot. The new Tottenham Hotspur defender said, via Football.London's Alasdair Gold, “At the beginning we argued, it was because he had such a way of playing, and I needed to get used to it. Sometimes you're arguing over things, but I think that's a nice thing in football, because in the end, the manager wants the best and the player wants the best, and you push each other to the next level.”
What Jan Paul van Hecke is admitting here publicly is important, because it is important for the other Tottenham players to understand that even if they do not get along with Roberto De Zerbi at first or if his ideas are different to what they are used to and what they think is best, De Zerbi, as the manager, knows best, and even though Van Hecke fought with him, they ended up getting really close in the end.
That's the thing about De Zerbi. His personality has been described as volatile, but when you rides for you, he is with you to the end, just as Van Hecke found out with how badly he wanted to work with him again at Spurs. So any Tottenham player who feels like they are not on the same page as De Zerbi or gets frustrated early on in the Italian manager's first full season at Spurs just needs to remember Van Hecke's initial experience with the coach and then how things turned out for him as a player.
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