Netherlands vs England: Micky van de Ven gives Bukayo Saka verdict ahead of speedsters' battle at Euro 2024
Rapid Netherlands defender Micky van de Ven is letting the numbers do the talking when it comes to comparisons between himself and England winger Bukayo Saka.
The north London rivals, stars for Tottenham and Arsenal respectively, could go toe-to-toe on Wednesday night in Dortmund when England take on the Dutch for a place in the Euro 2024 final.
Since arriving in the Premier League, Spurs fans have marvelled at Van de Ven’s fleet of foot while Saka is no slouch himself.
When asked if he thinks he’s quicker than Saka before the semi-final, Van de Ven chuckled as he replied: “That’s hard to say.
“But if you look at the data, I think you’ll know the answer.”
And Van de Ven certainly does appear to know the answer given he racked up the two quickest sprints in the entire Premier League last season - registering a top speed of 37.38km/h against Brentford in January.
At Euro 2024, however, the defender has not been the quickest with 35.6km/h on the speed gun meaning he trails Kylian Mbappe, Ferran Torres and Theo Hernandez as the fastest players left in the competition.
Saka, meanwhile, has so far topped out at 33.5km/h.
Van de Ven has had to make do with four substitute appearances at the Euros and will likely be on the bench on Wednesday night, but given Ronald Koeman’s propensity for using him as a left-back in Germany there is a real chance that he will face Saka at some point for a true test of who has the most pace to burn.
