Jan Paul van Hecke highlights the upgrade in Roberto De Zerbi's thinking over Daniel Levy's
Tottenham Hotspur spent 52 million pounds on Jan Paul van Hecke this past summer transfer window even though he only had one year left on his existing contract with Brighton, which conventional wisdom would have indicated a lesser price for the player. But Roberto De Zerbi insisted on signing the man he once coached at Brighton, surmising that the Dutch center back was the essential fit for how he wanted to play out of the back and in possession.
Time has proven De Zerbi right, because after an initial adjustment period, Van Hecke has been the single most dominant passing center back in world football since his arrival at N17 and has only grown stronger both on the ball and in defense, culminating in two world class displays in 2-0 wins over Chelsea and Crystal Palace.
At a larger philosophical level, the Van Hecke signing shows that the change in transfer approach under De Zerbi from how Daniel Levy operated as the chief and sole decision maker on the market for Tottenham Hotspur has been hugely beneficial to the team's chances.
Jan Paul van Hecke is in the mold of a winner
Instead of trying to sign sheer quantity and three or four budget optoins like Kevin Danso and Radu Dragusin who aren't nearly good enough, Tottenham instead focused on signing one guy, one solution, and paying the price it took to land a player their manager, who is truly responsible for the team's idea of playing on the pitch, was sold on as the solution. They chose quality over quantity instead of chasing capital gains or some ideal of beating the Transfermarkt listed price on the market.
The result is that Tottenham Hotspur have a player who is one of the best center backs in the Premier League and outperforming both his peers and his price tag, even as Daniel Levy and his chronies in the media would have derided Spurs for overpaying for Van Hecke.
Tottenham are in a much better place than they were two years ago under Levy, whose transfer policies and recruitment essentially put the club in the position they were in last season where they were nearly relegate before the very same man, Roberto De Zerbi, saved them. And now they are paving the way for a more fruitful era of potential Premier League title contention because De Zerbi has turned them into a singular focus of signing the right players, regardless of squabbling over cost, to actually win. Van Hecke is that mold.
