Tottenham’s pre-season is already being shaped by a familiar modern problem: availability. Roberto De Zerbi has confirmed that four players will not be ready until just before the Premier League season begins, which means the coming weeks are less about a full squad bedding in together and more about managing absences, recovery and staggered returns.
That matters because Tottenham are trying to build rhythm across a busy schedule that includes a training ground friendly against MK Dons on Wednesday July 22, a return to the grass on Monday, and a trip through New Zealand and Australia before a meeting with Hoffenheim at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday August 15. For a squad trying to sharpen its patterns, every missing body changes the picture.
Who is already back?
On Friday, a large group of 23 Spurs players returned to Hotspur Way for strength, power and medical tests. That is a helpful starting point, but it is not the same as having everyone available for full training. Tottenham are due to return to work on the grass under De Zerbi on Monday, and the club’s challenge is now to turn that administrative return into a footballing one.
The situation is especially delicate because Tottenham had 12 players away at the tournament across the Atlantic, and the knock-on effect of that schedule means some players need rest before they can rejoin properly. In other words, this is not simply about injury recovery. It is about protecting bodies after a long stretch of international duty and avoiding a rushed build-up.
The wider issue for Tottenham
Wilson Odobert is already ruled out until the end of this year with an ACL injury, which makes the available numbers even more important. Spurs can still work through pre-season, but the group that takes the field early in the summer will not be the same group expected to start the Premier League season. That creates a gap between preparation and the team De Zerbi actually wants to select when the games matter.
That gap is where pre-season can become misleading. A side can look lively in July and still be undercooked in August if the main starters are arriving late. Tottenham now have to balance conditioning, tactical work and rotation while also keeping an eye on the bigger target: being ready when the Premier League begins. If the timing is off, the first few matches can expose it quickly.
For Tottenham, then, the story is not just who is missing. It is what their absence does to the entire rhythm of the summer. The matches will still come, the travel will still happen, and Tottenham Stadium will still host Hoffenheim on August 15. But the real question is whether De Zerbi can get enough of his squad synchronized before the season starts, or whether this is already becoming a pre-season built around delay rather than momentum.
