Tottenham Hotspur had a golden opportunity to prove that things really have changed against superior competition under Roberto De Zerbi, but instead of avenging their putrid 1-0 loss to rivals Chelsea earlier this season, Tottenham lost to the Blues again 2-1 on Tuesday night to leave them with everything to do on Matchday 38 this weekend vs. Everton.
So any Tottenham players continue to do the opposite of covering themselves in glory, and while there are a number of veteran players how have improved their stock under De Zerbi and showed they are not finished at the club, Destiny Udogie has been an exception to the rule.
Even though Udogie had actually been playing well for Spurs under Thomas Frank, fans were raising the utility of keeping him around this summer if they can never rely on a player who is almost always injured. Udogie has been in and out of the lineup so many times this season with nagging injuries, and after Spurs signed Souza in January - and with Andrew Robertson apparently on the way if Spurs can survive the drop this weekend - Udogie is starting to look superfluous.
Destiny Udogie is tanking his future
And he looked worse than that for Tottenham Hotspur against Chelsea. Udogie made head scratching errors and errant passes, and while he did work hard defensively, he didn't work smart, often having to back track of his own mistakes or mental errors positionally.
Udogie has genuinely regressed throughout the 2025/26 season for Tottenham, going from one of the most important players on Spurs to getting Spurs fans to yearn for Djed Spence returning to the starting lineup in his stead.
The Italian international is running into a cross roads in his Tottenham career at this point, and his performance against Chelsea was, at best, befuddling and, at worst, infuriating to the Spurs fans who were screaming at the poor decisions and basic technical failures he committed in the loss to Chelsea.
Tottenham need to drive forward as a sporting project with players they can rely on to stay healthy, be consistent, and compete at the highest level of English football. Udogie can, in theory, be that player and as been that player, but with Spurs as poor as they have been this season, the final games of the campaign are a referendum on everyone. And Udogie is, admittedly, badly failing his test, to the point where Spurs fans are questioning everything.