First preseason game a big opportunity for Tottenham Hotspur youth
By Aaron Coe
Tottenham Hotspur has their first preseason match Saturday against Leyton Orient, with international competitions just wrapping up, expect a young Spurs squad.
The Copa America ended just a week ago and Italy has not even been Champions of Europe for a week, yet Tottenham Hotspur – like most Premier League clubs – is starting preseason. Although only two Spurs actually played in the two finals – with Giovani Lo Celso winning with Argentina and Harry Kane falling short with England – the vast majority of players from either competition are yet to report. Given the current state of affairs, let’s take a look at who is out, who is in, and who has a chance to impress the new coaching staff.
Who we know is out for Tottenham
With two international tournaments this summer, Tottenham has several players who have not even arrive at N17 yet. Of course, Kane and Lo Celso are out from reaching the finals. Besides those two, Davinson Sanchez and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg are both out having reached the semi-finals of their respective competitions with Colombia and Denmark.
France and Wales account for a further four players not with the club as of yet. Hugo Lloris and Moussa Sissoko represented Les Blues while Joe Rodon and Ben Davies represented the Dragons over the summer. Wales has swept aside at the first knockout stage, while France lost in a shootout to Switzerland in the quarterfinals of the competition.
In addition to all the players still out from the international competition, Tottenham’s other superstar, Heung-Min Son is still not yet at training camp. In his first pre-match press conference as Head Coach, Nuno Espirito Santo noted that Son was not yet with the team. Additionally, Nuno confirmed that Gareth Bale is not with the team and will likely not be.
If you include Son and Bale that is 11 players from last year’s team that will not be available for this first match. What this means is that some other players – notably some younger ones – will get a real chance to shine. Now we will look at who is available and likely to play on Saturday afternoon.