Micky van de Ven reveals heartwarming reason behind unusual shirt number

Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United will meet in Wednesday's Europa League final and one of the likely starters has explained his unconventional shirt number choice

Tottenham Hotspur star Micky van de Ven has explained why he wears the number 37 on his back. He wore five at previous club Wolfsburg but made the switch upon moving to North London in 2023.

The Dutch international will be crucial to Ange Postecoglou's team as they aim to silence Manchester United and win Wednesday's Europa League final. And, ahead of the game, he explained the poignant reason behind his choice of number.

"When I was 15 years old, my best friend Dimitri passed away," Van de Ven said when asked about the matter by GQ. "He was really sick and I always promised to make him proud.

"He was the person I always played football with so the day before he passed away, I promised him I was going to make sure I became a professional football player. When I made this beautiful transfer to Tottenham Hotspur, they said, 'These are the numbers you can pick for your shirt.'

"Number 37 was there. It was [Dimitri’s] favourite number when he was younger, so straight away I knew 37 had to be my number here."

Van de Ven has had a tough time with injuries since joining Tottenham, but manager Ange Postecoglou has managed the defender's minutes since welcoming him back in march after hamstring and thigh problems. He has played just three Premier League games since then, with Postecoglou on getting his best team in place for the European run.

This has left the former Wolfsburg star playing more minutes in the Europa League than in the Premier League in 2025. He started both legs of the quarter-finals and semi-finals, with Spurs beating Eintracht Frankfurt and Bodo/Glimt to book their place in Wednesday's final in Bilbao.

Postecoglou is without a number of other first-teamers for the final, with Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall all expected to be unavailable. There were a couple more injury scares in Friday's defeat at Aston Villa, but the manager played down fears of too many more missing men.

"[Pape Sarr] felt something in his back and took him off as a precaution," Postecoglou told Sky Sports. "Not too significant and Mikey [Moore] was OK but was just fatigued.

"He [Son Heung-min] is ready and available. They all are ready to start. It was important tonight and he feels like he is getting back to some rhythm."

Opponents Manchester United also have some players on the sidelines, with long-term injury victim Lisandro Martinez chief among them. However, Ruben Amorim joined opposite number Postecoglou in indicating those who played for his side in their last league match were able to come through the game unscathed.

Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.