Stuart Pearce has now declared his admiration for Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven after his performance this weekend.

Pearce was speaking on talkSPORT and declared that van de Ven will be crucial to any Tottenham success moving forward.

Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images

The pundit thought the Dutch defender was Spurs’ best player against Crystal Palace and is one to keep an eye on.

Speaking on talkSPORT (30/10, 8:15am), Pearce said: “Everything’s going in their direction at the moment.

“We covered the game on Friday night and at 0-0 you thought, they’ve got a couple of players in their ranks who can get a goal out of nothing.

“[James] Maddison combined to help get the goal, Sonny can get a goal.

“As I say, they’ve got a couple of players now in their ranks at this momen

“And they’re defending quite well at the moment. [Micky] Van de Ven was very good as well, I thought he was the best player, so he’s one to keep an eye on I think going forward if they’re going to be successful.”

Pearce thinks van de Ven is now crucial for Tottenham

James Maddison has rightfully been named Spurs’ signing of the season thus far by fans.

The £40m Tottenham paid does now look ludicrously cheap in the

But the £43m paid for van de Ven, a pacey left-footed centre back, shouldn’t be understated.

Many elite clubs are searching far and wide for that exact type of profile, and Manchester City ended up paying £78m to sign Josko Gvardiol for example.

Tottenham were certainly shrewd in the summer transfer window, and Pearce thinks they are now bearing fruit with van de Ven.

Given all of the improvements in Spurs’ defensive line, Emerson Royal has now been left on the periphery of things.

The defender looked like a starter under Ange Postecoglou at the beginning of the season.

And Royal has now outlined his plan to win his starting spot back.