Roberto De Zerbi's Premier League Challenge Begins
Roberto De Zerbi steps into the real thing now. The talking, the transfer noise, the pre-season caveats — all of it gets stripped away on Saturday evening at the Gtech Community Stadium, where Tottenham’s Premier League season opens under a manager expected to drag the club out of survival mode and into something more ambitious.
A £237m reset meets an awkward opener
Spurs have not been shy. Around £237million has been poured into this squad over the summer, a statement that the days of scrambling to 17th place are supposed to be over. Two years running they have finished just above the trapdoor; a third would be unforgivable.
De Zerbi has been hired to make sure it never comes to that. The catch? His first full campaign in charge begins with a tricky trip across the capital to Brentford, and the familiar shadow of an injury list that refuses to shrink.
Van de Ven mystery, Udogie managed
At the heart of De Zerbi’s concerns sits Micky van de Ven. Fresh from signing a lucrative new contract and returning late after the World Cup, the Dutch defender did not feature at all in pre-season and was not seen in training on Tuesday. Spurs have not disclosed the issue, leaving a key pillar of their back line shrouded in uncertainty just days before kick-off.
On the left, Destiny Udogie has at least been back out on the grass. The full-back trained ahead of the Brentford game, but he has yet to play a minute this summer as the staff carefully ration his workload after a series of muscular problems. He is closer, but still a doubt.
The pattern repeats across the squad: important players in boots, but not quite ready for full throttle.
Maddison’s captaincy bid checked by fitness
James Maddison falls squarely into that category. The England midfielder, a leading candidate to take the armband after Cristian Romero’s departure, is still climbing back towards full fitness following the anterior cruciate ligament injury that ended his campaign last season.
He has trained and he looks sharper, but Spurs are wary. His involvement at Brentford remains uncertain, and any decision on his minutes will be weighed against the risk of rushing him into a high-intensity opener.
Up front, Dominic Solanke is in a similar boat. The striker has been used sparingly in pre-season after a wretched year blighted by a recurring ankle issue and a late hamstring problem that kept him out of the relegation run-in. De Zerbi could do with his focal point; he may have to wait.
Fernandes, Kudus and a cautious De Zerbi
The club’s headline summer arrival, Mateus Fernandes, has also had a stuttering start. Signed from West Ham for £85m, the midfielder has been nursing a calf problem since joining up with Spurs on their tour of New Zealand and Australia. There is hope he will be available for selection on Saturday, but De Zerbi has made a point of erring on the side of caution with anyone carrying a knock.
That policy looms largest over Mohammed Kudus. The winger is back in training but has not played a single minute since January because of a serious quad injury. Throwing him straight into a Premier League opener would be a huge gamble, and Spurs are unlikely to take it.
Without Kudus, the right flank suddenly becomes a doorway for youth.
Moore’s window — and a stalled Savinho chase
Mikey Moore could be the one to walk through it. The teenager has been earmarked for a loan move, but that plan is on hold until Spurs land their own attacking targets. In the meantime, he may find himself starting on the right wing at Brentford, a short-term solution born out of long-term planning and short-term frustration.
That frustration is tied to Savinho. Tottenham’s pursuit of the Manchester City winger has dragged on all summer with no breakthrough. Each day that passes without an agreement keeps Moore in limbo — too valuable to risk losing cover, too raw to be guaranteed minutes once reinforcements arrive.
For now, necessity might give him his stage.
Porro late back, long-term absentees bite
On the opposite flank, Pedro Porro faces a different kind of race. The World Cup-winning right-back has only recently returned to training. He is not injured, but he is short of sharpness, and that may limit his role at Brentford.
Elsewhere, there is no such debate. Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert and Dejan Kulusevski remain long-term absentees, stripping away more creativity and forcing De Zerbi to lean on his depth before a ball has been kicked in anger.
How Spurs could line up
Against that backdrop, Tottenham’s XI still has a solid spine. A likely line-up reads:
Kinsky; Gray, Van Hecke, Senesi, Robertson; Fernandes, Tonali; Moore, Gallagher, Tel; Richarlison.
It is a side built to press, to play, to look nothing like the teams that scraped to 17th in back-to-back seasons. But it is also a side already patched together, already feeling the strain of a campaign that has not yet started.
The money has been spent. The new era has been declared. Now De Zerbi has to show that, even with doubts over Maddison, Solanke, Porro, Fernandes, Udogie and Kudus, Tottenham are finally ready to climb — or whether another year of excuses is waiting just beyond Brentford.
