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.