Jan positive ahead of eighth season as a Spur
Wed 07 August 2019, 12:02|
Tottenham Hotspur
Two years ago, Jan Vertonghen sat in the boot-up area of Hotspur Way reflecting on five years at the Club. He’d just turned 30, just reached 200 appearances for us and was ready for his sixth pre-season. “Five years, it’s crazy really,” he told us, looking ahead to what was then the 2017/18 campaign.
Now 32, he’s up to seven years, approaching 300 appearances and ready for his eighth season as a Spur having played a key role in our run to the Champions League Final in June.
Speaking to us during our tour of Asia, we asked Jan the same question - how does he feel? “I feel better! Normally, through the years, I’ve seen myself struggling in pre-season with lots of little things but I’ve prepared in a very good way,” he said.
“I had a good rest, I feel good and I’m ready to crack on. Physically, I feel in a good place. I can’t wait to play games to get that fitness to the next level.”
Those games included Juventus and Manchester United in the International Champions Cup (ICC) in Asia, then back-to-back victories over Real Madrid and Bayern Munich to lift the Audi Cup in Munich and finally Inter back in the ICC on Sunday.
“It’s the first time in my career that I’ve played pre-season games against the likes of Juventus and United and Real Madrid,” he said. “It’s good because we want to compete at the highest level. If you want to compete at the highest level, you have to compete against the best teams.”
Now it all starts again against Villa on Saturday (5.30pm). One of the senior figures both here at Spurs and for Belgium - he’s now record appearance maker for the Red Devils with 114 caps - Jan says the squad wants more after that thrilling run to the final of European football’s elite competition.
He added: “I can speak for myself and maybe other guys in the team, that gives us a lot of confidence for next season knowing that we’ve got the level necessary to get there.
“We probably beat the best team over two legs in City and that run can only be positive for us going into next season.”
