The Tottenham Hotspur head coach will have some players back in pre-season training this summer sooner than he likely expected
Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi will want his players to succeed at the World Cup but the knock-on effect of their exits from the competition does benefit him.
Spurs started off with 12 of their players at the showpiece tournament currently being played across the United States, Canada and Mexico, including three of their four summer signings so far in Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke. However, De Zerbi now knows that four of his World Cup stars will now be involved in more of pre-season training with him and his coaches than he probably expected and will likely join the club on their tour to New Zealand and Australia in July.
That's because both Robertson and midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur exited the competition at the end of the group stages with Scotland and Uruguay respectively. Then on Monday evening, the Netherlands were a shock departure from the last 32 as they conceded an added time equaliser to Morocco and then lost on penalties.
That means that both Micky van de Ven and new £52million signing Van Hecke will be heading home sooner than expected and could also make their way on the summer tour with Spurs.
football.london have reported that Tottenham's players will begin to head back for pre-season training to the club's Enfield training complex in stages from Friday July 10 for medical and physical testing and gym work. They will then move on to full work on the training pitches with the coaching staff from Monday July 13.
With De Zerbi yet to unleash his uncompromised brand of football on Spurs as he did not want to confuse his players in their relegation fight and his former players like Brighton's Lewis Dunk admitting how difficult it is to adapt initially to the opening weeks of his full and proper training sessions, the Italian will want as many players as possible at Hotspur Way to adjust long before the new season.
The minimum break after a summer international tournament that is offered to players is three weeks once their involvement with their national organisations ends. That would mean the Spurs quartet who have exited the World Cup so far are all likely to be back in pre-season training before the squad flies off on July 23 across the globe for their games down under.
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In New Zealand the north London side will take on Auckland FC on Sunday, July 26 at Eden Park. The following day, De Zerbi's men will head over to Australia to start preparations for a fixture against A-League side Sydney FC on Wednesday, July 29 at the Allianz Stadium. Then to close out that tour leg in Sydney, Tottenham will meet Chelsea on Saturday, August 1 at the 83,500-capacity Accor Stadium.
The next batch of Spurs players in World Cup action kick off with Lucas Bergvall, who wants to leave the club this summer, as Sweden face a tough test against France in New York on Tuesday night. Djed Spence and England then face DR Congo in Atlanta the following day before Pape Matar Sarr and Senegal take on Belgium.
One of Kevin Danso and Pedro Porro will be coming home after Thursday's clash between Austria and Spain before Luka Vuskovic's Croatia take on Portugal. Tottenham's group of players in the last 32 is rounded out by centre-backs Cristian Romero and Senesi as reigning champions Argentina face the World Cup's debut stars Cape Verde in Miami.
De Zerbi will be watching closely to see which further players he will get back in pre-season training earlier in July long before Tottenham begin their Premier League season at Brentford on August 22.