His wife Sophie De Vries and their two young children, a boy and a girl, were inside the house just before 8pm last Tuesday when the masked raiders burst in and demanded cash and valuables. They struck while the 32-year-old Belgian footballer was sitting on the substitutes’ bench for Spurs against RB Leipzig in the second leg of their last 16 match in Germany, which they lost 4-0 on aggregate. A source close to Spurs said: “They were masked and carrying weapons, including knives and machetes, and demanded to know where the cash and valuables were.

“Jan’s wife was obviously terrified and did as she was told. The group carried out a search and fled with electronic items.

“Thankfully I don’t believe anyone was hurt. The family were obviously terrified, especially given Jan was away with the Spurs squad.

“The police carried out a scene examination. Some officers did door-to-door checks to warn people and ask if anyone had seen anything as Jan’s family were not the only victims and at least one neighbour had been targeted too.”

The Met Police said there were no reports of similar burglaries in the same road in north-west London, on the same day.

A Met Police spokesman said: “Police were called to a residential address in NW3 at 7.49pm on March 10 to a report of a burglary.

“Officers attended. It was reported four men wearing balaclavas, armed with knives, had forced entry to the property and stolen a number of items before leaving.

“Nobody was injured. The suspects had left the scene before officers arrived. There have been no arrests and inquiries continue.”