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90min predicted the top 90 players of the 2023/24 season in the Premier League.

Tottenham’s recent track record for signing centre-backs... doesn’t make for great reading. Since the summer of 2017, Davinson Sanchez, Juan Foyth, Joe Rodon and Cristian Romero have all made the move to north London. One of those has already departed, another is expected to leave this summer, while who knows what the future holds for Rodon. They’ve taken a risk, then, in spending big on Micky Van de Ven. The Dutchman joins from Wolfsburg after an impressive Bundesliga campaign. Bayer Leverkusen’s Edmond Tapsoba was another on the radar at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but the powers that be were convinced by Van de Ven as they sought to bring in a left sided centre-back to partner Romero in Ange Postecoglou’s favoured 4-3-3 system. What has proven crucial is Van de Ven’s leadership qualities. Tottenham were so often all over the place in defence last season. Hugo Lloris committed more errors leading to an opposition goal (4) than any other player in the Premier League last season, while Spurs conceded the sixth most goals (63) in the division. Postecoglou spoke on a number of occasions about the need to bring in a centre-back, up to Tuesday’s confirmation of Van de Ven’s signing, and it’s easy to see why. Even in what promises to be a youthful backline, Van de Ven’s control at the back will be key. He did, after all, captain the Netherlands at the U21 Euros, and this facet to his game helped Spurs make their decision on the centre-back. Romero, for example, needs a leader alongside him to ensure he doesn’t over commit and leave gaps in the defence that can be exploited. While three years his junior, Van de Ven will help keep Romero in check and marshal a defence that needs organising. There’s also the recovery speed that will ensure Postecoglou can implement a high defensive line. Van de Ven was the quickest central defender in Germany’s top tier last term, clocking in at 22.3mph as per the offical Bundesliga website. Van de Ven has been described as “a Cruyffian defender” by Ruben Jongkind, a director Dutch side Volendam where he spent eight years before his move to Wolfsburg in 2021, with Jongkind waxing lyrical about the centre-back. “A lot of risk taking, incredible speed, I have never seen something like that. His special weapon was already there. I worked at Ajax with fast players, but this was incredible.” Jongkind went on to admit that Van de Ven ran a 60m pace dash in seven seconds flat. “After a training session, with a standing start!” This weapon in his arsenal means Spurs can afford to play with a high defensive line, safe in the knowledge that Van de Ven can cover the ground at lightning speed should needs must. On the ball, he’s one that is happy to set his side on the frontfoot, and this will help establish Van de Ven as a fan favourite at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Indeed, he ranked top for passes per game (50.5) and pass success rate (88.3%) of all Wolfsburg players, while 518 forward passes ranked 33rd of all outfielders in the Bundesliga last season, a metric topped by Tapsoba (879). This willingness to get the ball on deck and play out from the back is a key attribute for any modern-day centre-back, and we’ve seen other Premier League sides follow the same tact in the quest for dominance. No longer are defenders needed solely to deny opponents from scoring, but they are tasked with instigating attacks from defence. The upcoming generation of centre-backs all seek to play their part in dominating opponents, and they have become precious commodities in the game today. Chelsea and Arsenal tied Levi Colwill and William Saliba down to respective long-term deals given their ability to pick out a teammate with ease. Manchester City have made Josko Gvardiol the most expensive defender ever for that same reason, and Van de Ven is now the sixth most expensive signing in Spurs’ history following his arrival from Wolfsburg. While the aforementioned trio put in better passing numbers than the latter, this will be due to Brighton, Arsenal and RB Leipzig, respectively, seeing far more of the ball than the Wolves in their respective leagues last season. Spurs have had to spend big on the young centre-back, but he’s one who fits Postecoglou’s style of play, and this ultimately is key. It’s no point bringing in a defender who’d struggle with the Australian’s demands, as this would negatively impact what should prove to be a very important season for the club. A leader at the back, pace to burn and versatile, too; Van de Ven should prove a superb addition to this Spurs side. Read More Tottenham respond to latest Bayern Munich bid for Harry Kane Dejan Kulusevski vows to ‘do everything’ to keep Harry Kane at Tottenham

The Braves prepared for the worst after star Ronald Acuña Jr. got hit by a pitch on Tuesday. To everyone's relief, Acuña appears to have avoided serious injury.The Atlanta Braves got lucky on Tuesday night.The World Series contenders saw their star, Ronald Acuña Jr....

Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson plans to play most of his starters in the team’s preseason opener at Dallas on Saturday

Randy Arozarena thanks the Cardinals for trading himWhen the Rays and Cardinals agreed to a trade involving Jose Martinez and Randy Arozarena back in January of 2020, it wasn't though of as a deal of major significance. Yet, ever since arriving in Tampa Bay, Arozarena has been raking, making ...

As a two-time Formula One world champion and current championship leader, we all know how impressive Max Verstappen is in an F1 race car... But how would the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver fare at drifting? Ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Verstappen got to fulfil his lifelong ambition of learning how to drift on Thursday 6 July at Millbrook Proving Centre, under the guidance of professional drift driver and Red Bull athlete ‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter While Verstappen is used to being in the driver’s seat, the 25-year-old was a passenger at first as he watched a demonstration from Whiddett who is an established drift racer and record-breaker with a career spanning 16 years. After getting shown the ropes, Verstappen told indy100 how the demonstration was “pretty crazy.” “I didn't know what to expect and it was already pretty wild,” he said with a chuckle. “I just didn't expect to have that much grip you know? In the drift cars so yeah I'm curious to see how I will do it but it probably takes a bit of time.” Since this is Verstappen’s first time learning to drift, he revealed how much he has seen of this particular kind of racing before today. “I mean I've seen that clips and I've seen my friends do it a bit online you know virtual world doing a bit of drifting. “Yeah it's crazy, it’s something very different of course to what I'm doing.” Being an F1 driver, Verstappen is no stranger to racing but what makes drifting different is that drift cars are designed specifically to lose traction and slide to pull off manoeuvers. In contrast, F1 cars use advanced aerodynamics to create downforce (5gs at maximum speed, meaning five times the weight of the car will press down on the surface) to get the maximum grip on the track. He explained further why learning to drift is different from what he is used to. “I mean already just steering lock, the way the car is set up. It's really about just being able to throw the car around so the way that breaks are implemented in the cars - there are a lot of different things.” Verstappen added the reason why drifting would not be beneficial for F1 drivers. “It's just not fast,” he said. “You can drift it but the car is definitely not built for it already just to the steering lock we have, how stiff everything is made that the car really doesn't like to slide at all.” Given the differences between F1 and drift racing, Verstappen provided a modest answer when asked how confident he felt going into the challenge. “Not so much at the moment. I don't know maybe once I start driving I feel quite comfortable it comes a bit more natural but at the moment I really don't know how it's gonna go.” This challenge came ahead of the British Grand Prix in Silverstone and the Red Bull driver shared how was “looking forward” to the race weekend because “the track is great to drive,” and believed it would “suit [his] car.” Verstappen has had quite the year so far, as the two-time champ went into Silverstone with an 81-point lead in the world championship (229 points) over nearest rival and teammate Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez (148 points). Off the back of the Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen had won five races in a row, taking his overall number of wins this year to seven and from this excellent form, he revealed his highlight from the championship so far. “I mean we had a lot of great races I think but for me probably Miami was a good race you know coming from P9 I think it was never going to be a straightforward race but I think we really manage that race well,” Verstappen said. “Of course then to win it as well was great at the time and actually since then we have been in a good flow and we had a lot of good results.” This dominant form only highlights Verstappen’s hunger to win as demonstrated at the Austrian GP. Verstappen was leading the race by more than 20 seconds and convinced his team to let him pit for soft tyres with two laps left in order for him to win the extra point for the fastest lap – and the risk paid off. “I love winning and that's what motivates me so the more I can win the more motivated I am,” he said. “I think it works the opposite for me so yeah I'm enjoying it and the more faster we are the more interested I am and at the moment of course we have a great crowd so it's really not hard to come back to a race weekend and be on top of it.” Before heading off to try his hand at drifting, Verstappen shared some of the advice he had been given by Whiddett. “I mean he was explaining to me of course what to do with brakes the clutch and the handbrake.” He added: “The weird thing for me already is that it’s on the right-hand side so everything is opposite that probably will take a bit of time for me to get used to – normally you sit on the left-hand side. “You have the gearshift for at first and then the handbrake – here it’s the opposite. So I think I just first have to get comfortable with doing it the other way around in your mind and then just see how that goes.” It was then Verstappen’s turn to get behind the wheel of Whiddett's custom-built ‘MAD BUL’ – an FD3S Mazda RX-7 with 600HP (just over half the HP to an F1 car - 1050HP) which makes performing manoeuvres while travelling sideways more difficult to execute. Plus, this challenge makes Verstappen the first person other than Whiddett himself to give this particular drift car a spin, to which the F1 driver jokingly admitted there’s “a lot of pressure on [him] to do well and not to destroy the car.” Everyone then watched on as Verstappen attempted a series of manoeuvres that put him out of his comfort zone while also testing his driving abilities, these included: high-speed doughnuts and figures of 8, before flying through a Scandi-flick. But the highlight had to be with the finale which saw Verstappen take on the ‘Horner Corner’ where he saw a familiar face in the form of life-size cardboard cutouts of the Red Bull team principal Christian Horner (with a rather enlarged hand) around the corner of the track to add an extra element of difficulty into the mix. “I didn’t really know what to expect,” Verstappen told indy100 after the challenge and joked that the cardboard Christians he knocked over had “recovered.” “I really enjoyed it, it was definitely better than I thought it would be just because I had no clue how much fun it was.” He even likened the experience to feeling “16 again and jumping into an F1 car for the first time.” While Whiddett also commented on the challenge: “We really pushed the limits with Max and I hope he’s learnt some awesome tricks he can take to the F1 track - drifting is as raw as it gets! “I’d love to try out these challenges in an F1 car and see what’s possible in Max’s seat next time.” Have your say in our news democracy. 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Prince Harry has lauded the virtue of sports and its healing powers as he kicked off a promotional tour of Asia in Tokyo

Barcelona manager Xavi plays down talk of Neymar sensationally returning to the club from Paris Saint-Germain.

Luis Enrique is the eighth coach to take charge of Paris Saint-Germain in 12 years of Qatari ownership of the French club, a hire-and-fire approach which has so far failed to deliver the ultimate goal of winning the Champions League

Arsenal have rejected a £30m bid from Ligue 1 side Monaco for Folarin Balogun.

West Ham United agree a deal with Southampton for James Ward-Prowse worth £30m. The 28-year-old is expected to sign a four-year contract at London Stadium.

There have been 21 different winners in the last 22 major championships in women’s golf