Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven has insisted it is not up to him to say whether he should be Virgil van Dijk’s partner for the Netherlands.
[Soccer News cover comments](https://www.soccernews.nl/news/koeman-verrast-met-van-dijk-compagnon/) from the Tottenham defender today, made to Ziggo Sport, about the current battle for the place alongside captain Van Dijk.
Ronald Koeman currently has to make a decision on who starts alongside the Liverpool star moving forwards, with Brighton and Hove Albion’s Jan Paul van Hecke now a serious candidate too.
He’s coming off the back of a season in which he has impressed for Brighton, ending the campaign as their player of the year, voted for by fans and his fellow teammates.
It’s been a much more successful year for him than Van de Ven, who, despite winning the Europa League, spent much of the campaign on the sidelines battling various injuries.
That has put his place in the Netherlands squad in doubt thanks to Van Hecke’s rise, with the 24-year-old not quite as guaranteed a place as he might have once been.
The Tottenham defender knows that and, when asked about his situation, insisted that he’s not the one to answer the question.
“Well, if you look around here: we really have a lot of good players here,” he said.
“So, there are always enough players who can play, one hundred percent. But I am also very happy to be here again.
“No, I find that really difficult to say. If you talk about next to Virgil, you should look at left back. And that is not my regular position. Together with him in the middle? That has never happened, but it could of course be possible.
“But it is difficult to say that I am really the main man who should be there, if you look at the players who are here. I have not spoken to the national coach about it either. Who knows, that might still happen, I do not know.”