English model Ella Buffin, 24, swaps home turf for the World Cup after secret romance with Dutch EPL ace

Tottenham Hotspur captain Micky van de Ven is heading into the World Cup with something more than renewed confidence. The 25-year-old Dutch defender, who dragged Spurs through one of the Premier League's more tortured relegation battles this season, has been spotted enjoying a romantic break in Marbella with English model Ella Buffin. The Sun UK captured the couple together last week at the five-star Marbella Club Hotel, and since then, it's safe to say people are paying attention.So who exactly is Ella Buffin?Ella Buffin, 24, isn't an overnight sensation. She has close to a million followers across her social platforms, built steadily through bikini content, globe-trotting trips across Santorini, Mykonos, Bali, Ibiza, Dubai, and Rhodes, and brand deals with the likes of Asos, Adidas, and Cernucci. She studied fashion at Manchester Metropolitan University, with a background that includes Repton School in Derbyshire, an institution whose alumni spans Jeremy Clarkson to Roald Dahl. Away from social media, she's a netball player, an athletics enthusiast, and a regular at Wimbledon and the Australian Open. Derby County fan. Tennis courts to Grand Slams, her interests are genuinely varied.The Marbella trip itself looked unhurried. A long lunch at Nobu on the beach, dinner at The Grill that stretched three hours, and mornings at the luxury pool. An onlooker told The Sun: "They looked absolutely smitten. Micky was doe-eyed all night." Another source added: "They talked and laughed all night before heading back to their room shortly before midnight." Van de Ven, meanwhile, used the break as exactly what it appears to have been, a reset after a brutal Premier League campaign that ended with Spurs surviving on the final day through a 1-0 win over Everton. His source close to the club said this was "a special break after a difficult season."Van de Ven's new romance follows his split from Sterre van Bakel. Whether or not personal happiness influences performance on the pitch is a question worth asking. His form in the closing weeks of the season was sharply better. It might be coincidence. It might not.Buffin's 700,000-plus TikTok following and 136,000 Instagram fans will almost certainly swell when the World Cup gets underway. For the Netherlands, van de Ven will be the centre-back the Dutch lean on. For Ella Buffin, that audience is about to get considerably larger.