Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven insists the Netherlands are NOT scared of Arsenal speedster Bukayo Saka ahead of their Euro 2024 semi-final against England

Micky van de Ven insists that the Netherlands will be able to deal with Bukayo Saka in Wednesday's Euro 2024 semi-final against England.

'Saka is a wonderful footballer with lots of pace but [Virgil] van Dijk and [Nathan] Ake have a lot of pace too and I am sure they can handle him,' said Van de Ven.

The Dutch defender has come off the bench in four of his country's five games at the Euros and made a crucial block against Turkey in the latter stages of their quarter-final win.

But he refused to reveal whether Ronald Koeman will bring him into the starting XI for Wednesday's game in Dortmund because of his pace.

Van de Van added: 'I know Saka very well from him playing at Arsenal. I faced him twice. We will see if the manager will start me.'

But the Tottenham man admitted that he is the quicker player when asked who was faster between him and Saka, with Cody Gakpo interrupting to say that 'Micky is the fastest player ever in the Premier League'.

Van de Ven - who recorded the fastest speed ever by a Premier League player, clocking a top speed of 37.38 km/h (23.23 mp/h) against Brentford in January - said: 'That's hard to say but if you look at the data, I think you know the answer.' 

Meanwhile, Gakpo - who has played a starring role in Germany for Ronald Koeman's side, scoring three goals in their run to the last four - admitted that he prefers playing down the left, rather than as a striker, where he has played predominantly for Liverpool since moving from PSV Eindhoven in January 2023.

'I was a left winger before so that's always been my preference,' said Gakpo. 'But in the last one and a half years, the coach (Jurgen Klopp) needed me to play somewhere else and that's what I tried to do at my best,' he added.

The 25-year-old also stressed how he and his team-mates want to go all the way and replicate the achievements of the 1988 Dutch side, which included Koeman and won the Euros in West Germany. It remains their only major trophy and Gakpo was adamant that they will not take England lightly, despite their below-par performances.

'This has been a very beautiful tournament with our group. The feeling's really strong,' said Gakpo. 'We're in the semi-final and this is not the end of the tournament. Every single team that is here wants to get to the final and we're no different.

'It's not for nothing that England are in the semi-finals. They have a really good group of player and it's a fantastic squad. So it will hopefully be a beautiful game.'