There were a couple of surprises when Roberto De Zerbi announced his squad for Tottenham Hotspur’s pre-season tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Lucas Bergvall was named in the 35-man travelling party despite the uncertainty over his future, while Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Matar Sarr and Guglielmo Vicario stayed at home.
The Athletic reported earlier this summer that Bergvall expressed a preference to move on after two years in north London. Spurs have rejected bids from Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest for the Sweden international. But Bergvall started and impressed in their 1-1 draw against Sydney FC earlier this week.
De Zerbi revealed that Bentancur asked for an extra week off following a “tough season” and Sarr was dealing with personal issues. There might be mitigating reasons for the absences of Bentancur and Sarr, but, along with Bergvall, they are in a vulnerable position because of how Spurs’ squad has drastically changed over the last six months.
Spurs have spent around £210million on upgrading central midfield. Conor Gallagher arrived in January and then Spurs broke their transfer record twice in July to sign Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali. The return of James Maddison after missing the majority of the 2025-26 campaign with a knee injury has also given De Zerbi another option to choose from.
It is a small sample size, but Spurs lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation for all seven of their games under De Zerbi last season. Gallagher operated as the most advanced central midfielder but the long-term plan might be to use Xavi Simons just behind the striker.
However, Xavi suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in April’s 1-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers and is unlikely to return until 2027. Maddison is capable of filling in as the No 10 and is equally comfortable playing slightly deeper. On their pre-season tour, De Zerbi has experimented with using a single pivot behind two No 8s.
Spurs are left with eight potential options in central midfield, excluding Xavi, Dejan Kulusevski, Luca Williams-Barnett and Jamie Donley, who all prefer to play as a more advanced attacker. This feels like far too many, especially in a campaign when they will not be participating in European competition.
So who should stay and who should go?
One way to visualise the options in Spurs’ midfield is to look at the different profiles within it, and how different types of player may combine on the pitch.
The Athletic’s player roles dashboard uses data from Opta and SkillCorner to help outline player functions across the team. Considering nearly 40 metrics, a statistical model identifies patterns to group together those who perform similarly in style.
As we can see below, it has identified six roles across Spurs’ eight midfield options. There can, of course, be overlap between roles, but in picking out the strongest correlations, we can see how some of De Zerbi’s options could fit together.
It is safe to assume that Tonali, Fernandes and Gallagher will be key figures under De Zerbi, but the future is slightly unclear for the rest.
Tonali and Fernades have been signed at a huge expense and the signs suggest their skill sets should be a good match. They also complement each other well in the graphic above, as Fernandes sits deeper and helps with build-up while Tonali plays more of a box-to-box role. In an interview with The Athletic earlier this week, Tonali revealed their relationship “off the pitch is already top.”
After Spurs’ draw with Sydney FC, De Zerbi said he understands now that Bergvall’s best position is at the base of midfield but: “I can’t give, for any player in the world, the place in the first XI guaranteed.”
There are parallels to be drawn between Bergvall and Luka Vuskovic, with the latter joining Brighton & Hove Albion in July due to his desire to play regularly. Bergvall, 20, is only a year older than Vuskovic, and his progress has stalled.
He missed eight matches last season after undergoing ankle surgery in January but his game time was limited when fully fit. Bergvall made 23 appearances and only started 11 times for a total of 966 minutes. Yves Bissouma (605) and Maddison (34) were the only central midfielders who featured less. The wisest option might be to reluctantly cash in on the club’s 2024-25 player of the season. The risk with holding on to Bergvall is that his value could drop if he barely features.
Sarr, who turns 24 in September, has only started 35 league games in the last two seasons, which is just under 50 per cent. Sarr can drive forward with the ball and has a habit of scoring spectacular long-range goals, but it feels like his development has stagnated too.
It has had a negative impact on him at international level. Sarr started three of Senegal’s four games at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, but at this year’s edition, he only made one appearance. He has been surpassed by younger team-mates Habib Diarra, Lamine Camara and Bara Sapoko Ndiaye, and did not start any of their World Cup matches.
Sarr has four years left on his contract but it might be best for all parties if he seeks a new challenge. The midfielder would have an opportunity to regain momentum in his career while any transfer fee would help to balance Tottenham’s spending this summer. Bergvall and Sarr have similar profiles as they like to attack the box late, so it could be risky parting company with both of them.
Bergvall has a close relationship with Archie Gray. They both joined Spurs at the same time, play in the same position and are the same age. But Gray too could find it challenging to play consistently. The England Under-21 international, who captained Spurs against Auckland and Sydney, has an advantage over Bergvall because he can play across the defence and in midfield, with De Zerbi publicly praising his versatility.
Gray has spent most of his short senior career plugging gaps and at some stage needs to settle in one position. There were a couple of moments in the draw with Sydney where he looked awkward dropping deep to receive the ball. He cannot be completely blamed for being uncomfortable in those scenarios when he is not given enough exposure to them regularly.
Maddison has been a key figure for Spurs since he joined them in June 2023. The playmaker has directly contributed to 29 goals in 62 top-flight appearances across three seasons. De Zerbi values Maddison’s leadership, which is why he travelled with the squad to multiple away games last season despite being unavailable because of injury.
In an ideal world, Maddison would play slightly ahead of or alongside Tonali and Fernandes. The 29-year-old missed an entire year after suffering two separate ACL injuries and only returned in May. The seven-time England international needs to be managed carefully and requires patience to return to top form. Maddison is being rested as a “precautionary measure” during the pre-season tour because of a “small problem”, according to De Zerbi, underlining that the recovery process after long-term injuries is rarely linear.
Bentancur’s situation is more straightforward. He signed a long-term contract in October and performed excellently across the last six games of the season after recovering from a hamstring injury. The Uruguay international’s experience was crucial in those tense matches when Spurs were fighting to avoid relegation. Bentancur’s confidence and ability to receive the ball in his own defensive third under pressure will be crucial to De Zerbi’s risky style of baiting opponents when they play out from the back. An extended break might be a wise decision to allow Bentancur to feel fully refreshed after a few seasons disrupted by fitness issues.