Scouting Report - Micky van de Ven: Giant Defensive Talent For The Reds' Left Side

Whilst it is important for Liverpool to bolster the midfield department with signings this summer, the focus must be on making a couple of defensive additions. If Jürgen Klopp wants to continue playing Trent Alexander-Arnold in the hybrid role, the prospect of adding a centre-back who is comfortable operating in wide areas on either side is apparent.

Micky van de Ven of Wolfsburg has been linked with the Reds since the past few days.The young Dutchman is a left-sided centre-back who can also play as a left-back. Since Wolfsburg boss Niko Kovač chiefly prefers playing three at the back, he was used as a left-sided centre-back for the majority of the 2022/23 Bundesliga campaign.

If we brush through the 22-year-old’s background, he was a youth player at a Dutch club Volendam before moving to Wolfsburg in August 2021. He did not play much during the 2021/22 campaign but became a regular member of playing XI in 2022/23 (36 of the 41 appearances for Wolfsburg came in the latter).

With the introduction out of the way, let’s take an in-depth look at the player, his attributes, numbers and how can Klopp use him if Liverpool make the deal happen.

Micky van de Ven - Player Profile

Van de Ven is an elegant defender who is comfortable on the ball, can pass it well with or without pressure and has a good game-reading sense. He has the pace to make recovery runs and play in a higher line defence with no issues. The height and aerial success rate of close to 60% is there to combat aerial bombardments, something that becomes an important thing if you are linked with a Premier League club.

Below, we have his heatmap of the 2022/23 season, showing the areas he covers on or off the ball.

As expected from a player in his position, van de Ven is covering the space close to his box and is comfortable in engaging with forwards in wide areas if the wing-back of that side is pushed higher up. He likes to make progressive runs with the ball towards the midfield area, something that can be done if you have two defenders protecting the space behind.