€42m star confirms he wants to join Liverpool after Anfield visit

Liverpool are in need of new recruits, although the club is holding out for the perfect players to become available.

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As such, very few transfers have been signed off on and the positions in need of assistance have been left to struggle.

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However, while there is a lack of confirmed news surrounding Liverpool's transfer strategy, suggesting that the situation at the club is relatively bleak, sometimes it takes a player to make their intentions clear to get a transfer move off the ground.

And in a recent interview, one of the Premier League's most impressive centre-backs has just announced his intentions to move to Merseyside at some point in his career to work with Arne Slot.

Mickey Van De Van and Arne Slot - a match made in heaven?

Tottenham's leading centre-half Van De Ven is a player that many clubs around the world admire, and his involvement this season has only been hindered by a rotten bit of luck with injuries and fitness.

Had he been available for more of the Spurs' season, it is unquestionable that Ange Postecoglu would have utilised him as much as possible. His leadership qualities are integral to the way they play and his dominance in the air makes him so difficult for attackers to navigate past.

When it comes to thinking of a dream partner for either Virgil Van Dijk or Ibrahima Konate, you cannot get much better than the 23-year-old Dutchman especially at his current value of €42m as per Football Transfers and Arne Slot has been an admirer of his for quite some time.

In a new interview with the Express, Van De Ven spoke about the Liverpool boss' missed opportunities to sign him and his disappointment that the pair had not been able to work together quite yet in his career.

He said: "Arne Slot wanted to sign me for AZ when he saw me play in the first season at Volendam. The club refused to sell me and I had to accept that they would not let me go.

"When he was at Feyenoord he tried to sign me, too, but by then I had already signed for Wolfsburg in Germany.

"Slot is doing really well. Liverpool is now a fantastic team and he is showing again what a brilliant coach he is."

As such, it is clear that Slot could well hold the key to stealing away one of Tottenham's most important assets and shoring up the Reds' defensive unit.

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Van Dijk is at risk of leaving the club this season because of his ongoing contract saga and Konate has so far decided to hold off on signing Liverpool's offer to extend his contract, in favour of waiting to see whether Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Van Dijk re-sign.

So the club is clearly in need of a centre-back and Van De Ven is already dreaming of donning the red shirt.

He continued: "Every player who has worked under Slot, will tell you great things about him. In the few talks I had with him at the time, I got a great feeling about his managerial style, his coaching and his ideas in football. He really, really sees the game well.

"I really would not mind playing next to Virgil in defence. He is such a fabulous defender and doing great at Liverpool."

Although he goes on to mention that he 'will not rest until Tottenham have won a trophy', many players over the years have intended on breaking the North London club's misfortunes and failed, and Liverpool are looking incredibly likely to bring home at least one piece of silverware this season.

In addition, he has already felt the experience of visiting Anfield as a fan, claiming it was 'madness'.

Speaking back in 2023 to the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Aller-Zeitung, he said: "I once went to the Liverpool stadium with my dad... That was over Christmas on Boxing Day. Liverpool vs Arsenal. That was madness.

"Then when 'You'll Never Walk Alone' comes [on] - that's a goosebump moment, that was very cool. It's a dream to play there."

If Arne Slot can use his persuasive charm on his fellow countryman when Liverpool and Tottenham meet again on Thursday, then the Reds could be looking at adding another imperious centre-back to their ranks.

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