Tottenham's Pre-Season Friendly: Key Returns and Big Questions Ahead of Brentford

Tottenham’s final pre-season run-out of the summer comes with a familiar opponent and a very unfamiliar-looking squad.

Barely 24 hours after a 3-0 win over Hoffenheim at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs are facing the Bundesliga side again on Sunday, this time behind closed doors at Hotspur Way. The setting is low-key. The selection is anything but.

Maddison back at last

James Maddison starts and that alone sharpens the edge of this friendly. The playmaker has not kicked a ball in pre-season until now, after an unspecified issue that followed his comeback from the anterior cruciate ligament injury which wrecked most of his last campaign.

This is his first proper step back in front of Roberto De Zerbi, and it comes with the Premier League opener at Brentford looming next weekend. Spurs need their creator fit. They also need answers about his sharpness. Today offers a first glimpse.

Record signing on show

Alongside him, Mateus Fernandes returns to the XI and to the spotlight. The £85million signing from West Ham has barely been seen since a minor calf problem cut short his involvement on the tour of New Zealand and Australia.

His inclusion against Hoffenheim is a clear signal: Tottenham want their marquee summer buy up to speed quickly. The fee demands it. So does the balance of this new-look attack.

Midfield muscle returns

Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Matar Sarr are both back in the side as well, adding steel and control in the middle after their own disrupted preparations.

At left-back, Souza starts. The Brazilian, a January arrival already linked with a move away from north London, gets another chance to convince De Zerbi he should be part of the long-term picture rather than a short-lived experiment.

Kevin Danso, sent off shortly after coming on in that dramatic 2-1 win over Chelsea in Sydney earlier this month, lines up in defence again. Ben Davies, the steady veteran, is alongside him.

Brandon Austin gets the nod in goal, with youngsters Luca Williams-Barnett, Tye Hall and Damola Ajayi all handed starts. On the bench sits 15-year-old goalkeeper Mikel Jack, a name Spurs insiders rate highly and one that underlines just how youthful this group is.

Big absences, big questions

For all the returns, the absentees dominate the mood.

Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie have still not played a single minute of pre-season. With Brentford away just days away, the continued absence of the first-choice defensive pair is a major concern. Tottenham’s build-up play and high line lean heavily on both; without them, the entire structure shifts.

Up front, Dominic Solanke is missing again. He has not featured since getting 45 minutes against Chelsea on August 1 in his second summer outing. Spurs invested heavily to reshape their attack; they now head towards the season opener without meaningful minutes in their new No9’s legs.

Mohammed Kudus is also not yet ready to return. The forward has re-joined training after recovering from a serious quad injury but remains unavailable for match action. His versatility and goal threat are central to De Zerbi’s plans, yet for now they remain theoretical.

Dejan Kulusevski is back on the grass after a knee injury that has sidelined him since May 2025, but his comeback is still some way off. Tottenham will not rush him, aware of how much they miss his power and direct running when he is not there.

Pedro Porro, meanwhile, has not featured at all in pre-season. The right-back only returned from an extended break earlier this week after Spain’s World Cup triumph, leaving him short of minutes and rhythm heading into the new campaign.

Behind closed doors, but not without stakes

This is officially just a friendly, played away from the cameras at the training ground. Yet for De Zerbi, it carries weight. Maddison’s touch. Fernandes’ movement. Bentancur’s timing. The fitness – or lack of it – of key defenders and attackers.

All of it feeds into one looming question: when Spurs walk out at Brentford next weekend, how close will this patched-together pre-season side be to the team De Zerbi really wants?