Roberto De Zerbi told the one Tottenham star he cannot sell this summer | OneFootball

Spurs boss set to oversee a huge summer rebuild - but one player must remain

Roberto De Zerbi has been told the one player he must keep as the manager plots a huge summer rebuild.

Spurs clinched Premier League survival on the final day of the season by beating Everton, finishing two points clear of West Ham who drop into the Championship.

It was a day of relief in north London as the club avoided a catastrophic relegation, and De Zerbi's appointment in late March proved crucial by winning three of his seven games in charge as the Hammers crumbled

The manager said after the game that "we have 10, 11, 12 players good enough to stay", and later added that he "100 per cent" wants to sign loanee Joao Palhinha permanently.

But it is Van de Ven who is most crucial to the club's future, according to former Spurs defender Alan Hutton.

"That's one guy that I think they have to keep, in my opinion," he said.

"If they want to build and be stronger for next season, he's your captain in waiting because I think [Cristian] Romero will probably be off. So they need to keep these kind of guys to build around.

"If you did cash in on him and he goes to another Premier League team or whatever, you have to replace that guy and that's not going to be easy.

“So it's a difficult situation because these guys want to play at the highest level possible and it's going to probably take a number of windows, I feel, for Spurs to get back to that sort of level, but they have to keep the likes of Van de Ven if they want to do that."

Van de Ven appears to be looking towards next season, telling Spurs’ media channels: “We have the right people now here. The right manager. So yeah, I’m confident we can do more next year because obviously as you said, two years in a row we end up 17th, it was unacceptable, especially for a club like Spurs.

“Things are going to need to change and we’re going to see that’s going to happen. But we’re going to do everything about it and I’m confident we’re going to do way better than the last two seasons.”