A whole host of former Tottenham Hotspur players have shown their appreciation to one legend of the Lilywhites who announced his international retirement.
During the years of 2015 to 2018, Tottenham Hotspur, under Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, were one of the most exciting sides in Europe and the North London came close to winning the Premier League title on two occasions.
However, the Lilywhites could never get over the line despite having players like Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son, Christian Eriksen and Moussa Dembele all in their prime.
One player, who was certainly underrated for the club, was Jan Vertonghen who moved to the club back in 2012 from Ajax.
Vertonghen was almost irreplaceable for Spurs as he formed a brilliant partnership with Toby Alderweireld and were very effective together.
In recent seasons since departing Tottenham, things have not been easy for the Belgium defender and the 37-year-old had a poor Euro 2024 campaign.
Belgium were eliminated at the knockout stages by France as a Randal Kolo Muani shot took an unfortunate deflection off of the Royal Antwerp defender took it into the back of the net.
Following that disappointing defeat to Les Blues, Vertonghen took to Instagram and said: First one, last one. Thx for all the memories, I lived my dream!”
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The Belgian defender’s experience will be a big miss for the international side going forward but the time was right for him to retire.
Former Spurs players react to news
Ex-Tottenham winger Lucas Moura labelled the defender a ‘legend’ whilst Manchester United’s Christian Eriksen said’ Mattie’, which reportedly means gift from god.
The Tottenham Instagram account sent a message with the words ‘Super Jan’. During the club’s peak years of the Pochettino era, Vertonghen was key for the Lilywhites.
Following a victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, ex-Spurs striker Kane labelled Vertonghen as ‘unreal‘.
Despite how the end of his career has panned out, Vertonghen will go down as a cult hero at Tottenham, while the Belgian national side will have to attempt to grow without the experience of the defender.
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