Brighton rejected two Tottenham bids for Jan Paul van Hecke, says Paul Barber

Tottenham have had a second bid for defender Jan Paul van Hecke rejected, Brighton chief executive Paul Barber has revealed.

Spurs made a move for Dutch 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.

An opening bid by Tottenham for Van Hecke was rejected after it fell short of Brighton’s valuation for the 25-year-old and Barber has confirmed another offer has been rebuffed for a player set to be out of contract next summer.

“There’s always going to be a lot of interest in our best players and certainly in the case of Jan Paul,” Barber told talkSPORT.

“Again, we’ve been very clear that interest has been ongoing for a while. It’s coming from multiple sources.

“Yes, we have rejected a bid from Tottenham over the last week or so, in fact, two bids, so from that point of view, it has to be right for us as well as the player.”

Tottenham 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.

Spurs made their first move of the summer window on Friday with Scotland captain Andy Robertson brought in on a free transfer from Liverpool, and the Press Association understands free agent Marcos Senesi is expected to follow suit.

Van Hecke is the next big target for Tottenham, who are eager to move quickly this summer to bolster a squad which has finished 17th in back-to-back seasons.

The Lewis family, which runs Spurs’ majority owners ENIC, pledged at the end of the 2025/26 campaign to fund the required rebuild to get the north London club back competing at the top of the Premier League.