Tottenham agree £52m deal for Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke

Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi worked with Van Hecke across two seasons at Brighton.

Tottenham have reached an agreement with Brighton to sign Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke for £52million.

Spurs made a move for centre-back Van Hecke earlier this month after a terrible 2025-26 campaign where only a final-day win over Everton secured Premier League survival.

After Tottenham had two bids rejected for the 25-year-old, who was set to be out of contract next summer, an agreement has been struck with Brighton and Van Hecke will move to north London in a deal worth a fixed £52m fee.

Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi worked with Van Hecke across two seasons at Brighton and the ball-playing central defender has since emerged as one of the best players in his position in the Premier League.

Even though Tottenham avoided relegation, De Zerbi warned lessons must be learned and the club’s majority owners the Lewis family promised they were “all in” to fund the required rebuild after back-to-back 17th-placed finishes.

Spurs conceded 122 goals across the last two Premier League campaigns and De Zerbi has immediately got to work on bringing in defensive reinforcements with Van Hecke’s addition following the arrivals of left-back Andy Robertson and centre-back Marcos Senesi.

Van Hecke started his career in his homeland with NAC Breda before Brighton secured his services in 2020.

It was under De Zerbi during the 2023-24 campaign when Van Hecke started to flourish with the Seagulls and he made 40 appearances last season to help the club qualify for Europe for only the second time in their history.

Van Hecke will now link up with Netherlands team-mate Micky van de Ven at Tottenham. Brighton are expected to accelerate their pursuit of Spurs centre-back Luka Vuskovic as a potential replacement but have had two bids rejected this month.