Tottenham Hotspur have reached an agreement with Brighton & Hove Albion to secure the services of Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke in a deal understood by the Press Association to be worth £52 million.
The move for the 25-year-old centre-back comes after a dismal 2025-26 campaign for Spurs, which saw them narrowly avoid Premier League relegation on the final day of the season.
After two initial bids were rejected, an agreement has been struck for the player, who was set to be out of contract next summer, with a fixed £52m fee bringing him to north London.
Spurs manager Roberto De Zerbi previously worked with Van Hecke during his tenure at Brighton, where the ball-playing central defender blossomed into one of the league’s standout players in his position.
Despite avoiding the drop, De Zerbi has stressed the need for significant lessons to be learned, with the club’s majority owners, the Lewis family, pledging to be “all in” to fund a necessary rebuild following consecutive 17th-placed finishes.
Tottenham’s defensive frailties were stark, conceding 122 goals across the last two Premier League seasons.
Van Hecke’s arrival marks another step in De Zerbi’s immediate efforts to bolster the backline, following the earlier acquisitions of left-back Andy Robertson and centre-back Marcos Senesi.
Van Hecke began his career in the Netherlands with NAC Breda before joining Brighton in 2020.
It was under De Zerbi during the 2023-24 season that he truly flourished with the Seagulls, making 40 appearances and playing a key role in their qualification for Europe for only the second time in their history.
He will now link up with his Netherlands international teammate Micky van de Ven at Tottenham.
Brighton, meanwhile, are expected to intensify their pursuit of Spurs centre-back Luka Vuskovic as a potential replacement, though two of their bids have already been rejected this month, PA understands.
