Tottenham Seek Timely Boost After Poor Start
Tottenham have lurched into the new season with a thud. A 3-0 defeat at Brentford was exactly the kind of opening-day humiliation a heavily backed, heavily hyped Spurs side could not afford, and Roberto De Zerbi did not bother sugar-coating it. His blunt verdict: his players are not yet fit enough for Premier League combat.
Seven first‑teamers were missing at the Gtech Community Stadium. The bench looked light, the team looked leggy, and the manager sounded exasperated. Now, with a Carabao Cup tie against Charlton on Wednesday and Newcastle visiting north London on Saturday for the first home league game of the season, Spurs are clinging to the prospect of key returns that could shift the mood.
Van de Ven and Porro close to comeback
At the heart of De Zerbi’s plan sits his new captain, Micky van de Ven. He could only watch from the sidelines at Brentford, armband unused, as Spurs were picked apart.
The defender’s pre-season was wrecked by a problem picked up on the tour of Australia. It was not serious, but it was awkward enough to stop him playing a single minute before the campaign began. Now he is chasing fitness while his team chases points.
“He worked with the group [on Friday], he's going very well,” De Zerbi said last week. “He suffered a problem during the pre-season in Australia, I don't know, the flight, I don't know, something, not a big problem, but not right to work.”
The expectation is that Van de Ven will be ready for Newcastle at home on August 29, 2026. For a side that looked soft through the middle at Brentford, that date cannot come quickly enough.
Alongside him, at least in the leadership group, Pedro Porro is on a similar path. Named first vice-captain, the Spaniard was another high-profile absentee at Brentford after a disrupted summer. His late return from Spain’s World Cup win meant he never featured in pre-season and has been playing catch‑up since.
The right-back is back in training, building his sharpness after three weeks off. Spurs consider him close to match-ready, with the same target: Newcastle at home on August 29. If both he and Van de Ven make it, De Zerbi’s back line suddenly looks a lot more like the one he envisaged.
Kudus “almost ready” after long lay-off
Further forward, there is a different kind of comeback brewing. Mohammed Kudus has not played since January, a long, frustrating absence that has robbed Spurs of one of their most dynamic attacking threats.
The Ghanaian underwent surgery on a quad injury and, last week, returned to his homeland following a family bereavement. He is now back in training and edging towards the kind of condition De Zerbi trusts.
“Kudos is almost ready, that is a big point for us,” the head coach said, stressing the need to manage the situation carefully. “It's important also the management of the players, when the players have some problem, we have to stay calm, don't take risks.”
If all goes to plan, Kudus is being lined up for a return away to Nottingham Forest on September 5, 2026. After the blunt, toothless showing at Brentford, his creativity and power cannot arrive soon enough.
Maddison a fresh worry
Just as Spurs wait for players to come back, a new concern has emerged. James Maddison, still short of full sharpness himself, is a doubt for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Charlton.
The midfielder came off the bench at Brentford, tasked with salvaging something from a bleak afternoon. He could not change the trajectory of the game and left with another problem to manage, having landed awkwardly on his shoulder.
Any setback now slows his push towards full fitness. De Zerbi will give an update at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday, but the working assumption is that Maddison will be aiming, like several others, at Newcastle at home on August 29.
Sarr’s “minor” issue, major timing
Pape Matar Sarr is another whose absence hurt Spurs at Brentford. The midfielder, who has attracted transfer interest this summer, picked up a hamstring problem late last week and was ruled out of the opener.
He did at least get through pre-season, only for his momentum to be checked by what the club insist is a minor issue.
“He felt pain in his hamstring two days ago,” De Zerbi said on Friday. “Nothing important, but we don’t take risk with him and especially in this moment.”
Again, the internal target is the Newcastle game on August 29. If that holds, De Zerbi could regain a key runner and presser in the middle of the pitch at a time when his side badly needs legs.
Long road back for Kulusevski, Simons and Odobert
Not every story is close to a happy ending. Dejan Kulusevski’s ordeal continues, even if there is at last some light in the distance.
It has been almost 18 months since the Sweden international last pulled on a Spurs shirt. A serious knee injury has kept him out, with setback after setback slowing his progress. He is now back on the grass, working with an individual coach rather than the main group, and De Zerbi is watching him closely.
“I'm observing him a lot, because first of all, he suffers too much, and as a human situation, it's been tough for him, and every one of us we are close with him for this period,” the manager said. “Then he's a different player, he's a special player, if he's fit and he's available, he's a different player, like Xavi Simons.”
The club are refusing to rush him. The only certainty is that his return is pencilled in for the first half of the season, with no firmer date attached.
Xavi Simons, the player De Zerbi referenced, is even further away. The Dutch star was at the Brentford Stadium on Saturday to support his team-mates, but his boots will stay off for months yet. An anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered at the end of last season has him sidelined for around nine months, with Spurs not expecting him back until early 2027.
Wilson Odobert’s situation is similar. He suffered the same ACL injury a few months before Simons and is targeting a return before the end of 2026. For both, this is a long, lonely part of the journey.
Spurs cannot fast‑forward those long rehabs. What they can do is cling to the near-term boosts: a captain back marshalling the defence, a vice‑captain flying down the right, a fit-again Kudus adding bite and invention. After Brentford, they need all three. The question now is whether those promised returns arrive in time to stop this season from slipping into familiar chaos before it has really begun.
