Tottenham Hotspur are due to begin their pre-season preparations at the end of July, but some first-team players will be unavailable due to other commitments.
There are nearly two months between now and when Tottenham are next in action. Spurs do not have a scheduled fixture until July 31, when they take on bitter North London rivals Arsenal in the Hong Kong football festival.
This provides time for Spurs to appoint a new manager and allow him to grow familiar with the Tottenham first-team squad.
Better still, there is no senior international tournament this summer, other than the Nations League finals, which finished on Sunday. This means Spurs will have plenty of available players in pre-season, which was not the case last year.
Tottenham will be without their international youngsters
It is not all positive news on the pre-season front. The European Under-21 Championship is on this summer and Spurs have three players competing.
Football London report that Archie Gray is part of the England squad, while Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel will be competing for France. The final will be played in Bratislava on the evening of Saturday, June 28. Therefore, if either side goes all the way, those players will be unavailable at the start of Tottenham’s pre-season tour.
This is because the players will need to be allowed time off in the summer to recover from last season, as well as the Euro U21s tournament.
MORE SPURS STORIES
Spurs will not be worried about playing without their young internationals
Whoever becomes the new manager of Tottenham will be keen on getting to know their whole squad.
However, Gray and Odobert were not first-team starters last season, except when filling in for injured players. Then there is Tel, who is yet to be signed by Spurs on a permanent basis, so there is no guarantee he will be available at all.
Having as many players as possible to prepare for the new season is advantageous, but if last season has taught us anything, it is that players need time to rest to avoid picking up injuries.