London Evening Standard

New Zealand’s North Island was hit by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake a matter of hours after Tottenham arrived for their pre-season tour.

Roberto De Zerbi’s men will spend the next week down under to contest pre-season friendlies against Auckland, Sydney, and London rivals Chelsea.

But mere hours after they touched down on Saturday morning, tens of thousands of locals reported feeling an earthquake which had hit 146 miles south of Auckland.

No injuries or major damage have yet been reported as a result of the quake, though minor road damage has been noted.

The earthquake was detected on Saturday at 4.51am local time (5.51pm BST on Friday) near the town of Taumarunui.

Tottenham are based nearly 150mi (240km) further north and would not have felt any strong tremors, but players will have received notifications on their phones warning of the earthquake.

Earthquakes are common in New Zealand, with 14,000 reported every year on average, most of which are too small to be felt.

This particular quake was labelled as ‘severe’ by tracking service Geonet. Authorities have warned locals to remain wary of aftershocks throughout Saturday.

Some locals were quoted in the local press as saying it was the strongest quake they had felt for some time.

Tottenham face the reigning A-League champions Auckland FC at Eden Park in the small hours of Sunday morning for UK viewers.

De Zerbi has left a handful of first-team players at home, with Xavi Simons, Mohamed Kudus, Dejan Kulusevski and Wilson Odobert all staying behind to work on their injury rehabilitation.

Spurs look to make it two wins from two as they head down under

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Tottenham's pre-season tour of New Zealand and Australia gets under way this Sunday when they take on Auckland FC at Eden Park.

Spurs began their preparations for the new campaign with a 1-0 win over MK Dons in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Wednesday, but travelling supporters will now have the chance to watch Roberto De Zerbi's new-look side in person for the first time.

After an aggressive summer of spending so far, during which Spurs have already splashed more than £200million on six new players, expectations are high despite successive 17th-place finishes in the Premier League.

Argentina centre-back Marcos Senesi is the only new signing not to travel as part of the 35-man Spurs squad for their pre-season tour, with Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Andy Robertson, Jan Paul van Hecke and Martin Dubravka all included.

Other notable absentees include goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who suffered what Spurs described as a "minor knock", as well as Pape Matar Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur. Sarr and Bentancur have both been granted extended leave following the World Cup.

Those involved in the latter stages of the World Cup, such as Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero and Djed Spence, have also not travelled.

It is unclear yet whether Vicario and Romero have played their last games for Spurs, with the pair both heavily linked with moves away from the club.

Mohammed Kudus, Dejan Kulusevski, Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert, meanwhile, will all remain at Hotspur Way as they continue their rehabilitation from respective long-term injuries.

The absence of several key first-team players has opened the door for youngsters like Luca Williams-Barnett, who impressed against MK Dons, and Mikey Moore to showcase their talents and De Zerbi will be hoping his side can build on their winning start to pre-season.

Auckland FC finished third in the A-League last season and a record crowd is expected at Eden Park on Sunday to welcome Spurs, who are likely to once again field a different starting lineup in each half.

Tottenham have announced the signing of Jan Paul van Hecke as Roberto De Zerbi’s rebuild begins to take shape.

Spurs are looking to improve on what was a dismal campaign last year, as they avoided what would have been a shock Premier League relegation on the final day.

West Ham went down in their place, with De Zerbi leading the north Londoners to a 17th-place finish.

The Italian has now been backed in his first transfer window at the helm, with the likes of Marcos Senesi and Andy Robertson arriving on free transfers, while big money has been spent on the engine room.

Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali have been signed from West Ham and Newcastle respectively for a combined £185million, while Spurs have landed Van Hecke to shore up their defence further.

The Dutchman was signed for £52m from Brighton and Hove Albion, and he will wear the No6 shirt at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The 26-year-old follows in the footsteps of loan star Joao Palhinha, who was the most recent recipient of the squad number.

The midfielder returned to parent club Bayern Munich after Spurs did not activate their option to purchase the former Fulham man, and as such, Van Hecke has been handed his shirt.

Radu Dragusin, now of Fiorentina, also sported the No6 on his back, while Davinson Sanchez held it between 2017 and 2023.

Historically, the likes of Chris Perry, Tom Huddlestone and Nabil Bentaleb have all worn the number, while Steve Perryman and Gary Mabbutt are perhaps the two most famous names to have had the No6 emblazoned across their backs.

It ruled him out of the remainder of the campaign - as Spurs were fighting to stay in the Premier League - and this summer’s World Cup, where he would have played with the Netherlands.

Roberto De Zerbi did oversee top-flight survival for the north Londoners, which came on the final day of the season, but the Dutch were eliminated early in North America, as they were beaten on penalties by Morocco in the first knockout round.

Now, speaking to The Sports Agents podcast, Simons has given an update on his fitness as pre-season gets underway.

“When they tell you how long this injury is, and for me the first two days were really hard. But after that, I told myself, don’t put the pressure really, really high on myself, and I'm seeing improvement every day, and that's something that makes me really happy.”

The ligament rupture meant that Simons missed what would have been his second World Cup of his career, having featured in a bit-part role in Qatar four years ago.

“This World Cup was a little bit different because I [felt that I] really could help the team to achieve the goal,” he explained.

Looking back at sustaining the injury at Molineux, Simons said that he was grateful to be able to do menial tasks after what is seen as the most devastating injury elite athletes can suffer.

“I have to be happy just walking again, going to the toilet and even having a drink with my family. So, that was something that really hit into my head.”

He is still unlikely to feature for Spurs this calendar year, with his return expected for 2027.

The left-back has signed for the north Londoners on a free transfer after his contract at Liverpool expired at the end of the last campaign.

The Scotland international has returned to training alongside his new team-mates after his country’s premature exit at this summer’s World Cup, as Steve Clarke’s men were knocked out in the group stage.

They suffered defeats by both Morocco and Brazil in Group C, while a 1-0 win over Haiti was not enough to see them through as a best-ranked third-place team.

As such, it means that Robertson has not been afforded the three-week break that other players competing in North America have been given.

He is now straight back into work at Hotspur Way, although his debut will come in the side’s pre-season tour of Australia.

The defender did not play in the opening victory against Milton Keynes, where fellow new recruit Mateus Fernandes scored a superb goal to get off the mark in his new colours following his £85million move from West Ham.

Robertson, 32, found his first-team minutes hard to come by at Liverpool under Arne Slot last term, especially after the arrival of Milos Kerkez, who was signed from Bournemouth.

The Scot played 24 times in the league last term, down from the 33 appearances he made in the title-winning campaign the season previously.

It was announced that he would leave thw Anfield club on a free transfer this summer, with Spurs already interested in his services having courted him in January earlier this year.

Tottenham boss experimented with two different teams for opening game of pre-season

Sam Tabuteau

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Tottenham kickstarted their pre-season preparations with a 1-0 win over MK Dons at Hotspur Way on Wednesday evening.

Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali started alongside each other for the first time after signing for a combined £185million earlier this month, while youngsters Luca Williams-Barnett and Mikey Moore were given a chance to impress in the second half.

It was Fernandes’ superb early volley that ensured Spurs got off to a winning start as Roberto De Zerbi got a first look at his squad ahead of the new season.

There were also minutes for fellow new signing Martin Dubravka as De Zerbi named two completely different starting lineups in each half.

Andy Robertson and Jan Paul van Hecke were not risked, however, having only returned to pre-season training earlier this week after taking a break following the World Cup.

The two new summer recruits will, though, travel as part of a 35-man squad to New Zealand and Australia for the club’s pre-season tour.

It was a promising first outing for De Zerbi and Spurs, and Standard Sport picked out three players who will have caught the eye of the Italian…

Mateus Fernandes

Took no time at all to introduce himself to the Spurs faithful as he opened the scoring with a sweetly struck volley that pinged off the post and flew into the back of the net.

It was quite the introduction from £85m man Fernandes and from there he settled into the game, popping passes through the lines and helping to set the tempo as Spurs’ players got back up to speed.

Comfortable dropping deep and receiving the ball or pushing forward to slip players in behind, Fernandes showed a lot of promising early glimpses.

De Zerbi has said that Fernandes needs to play in a system that suits him, and the early signs suggest that much of Spurs’ play will go through the 22-year-old, with De Zerbi trusting Fernandes’ ability to receive under pressure.

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It is very much early days, but a confident start nonetheless from Fernandes, who said after the match that he is looking to add more goals and assists to his game this season.

Luca Williams-Barnett

The prodigious young winger has long been thought of as one of the brightest academy prospects at Spurs, and he made an imperious statement of intent in his first outing under De Zerbi.

Introduced at half-time, Williams-Barnett stole the show in the second-half as he drifted through challenges, picked passes and skipped past his marker with consummate ease.

Though Spurs were unable to add to their lead, Williams-Barnett kept plugging away, trying to create opportunities and drive his team forward.

Luca Williams-Barnett is highly regarded at Tottenham

Getty

The 17-year-old was at the centre of everything good Spurs did in the second-half and he will have made a real impression on De Zerbi ahead of a hectic pre-season tour.

Malachi Hardy

A really assured performance from the young defender as Spurs kept a clean sheet to kickstart their pre-season with a comfortable victory.

Produced a superb block to deny MK Dons early in the second-half and impressed with his ability on the ball.

Impressive: Malachi Hardy

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The 18-year-old centre-back was calm with the ball at his feet and alert to any danger that MK Dons posed.

Having recently signed a new long-term deal at the club, Hardy is highly regarded at Spurs. He will hope for more minutes out in Australia and New Zealand.

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Mateus Fernandes scored a stunning winner mere minutes into his Tottenham debut as Roberto De Zerbi’s side opened their pre-season campaign with a 1-0 defeat of MK Dons.

Spurs have plenty of work to do this summer as they work to bed in a number of fresh faces and return to the upper echelons of the Premier League, and De Zerbi will be encouraged by his side’s first outing.

Fernandes, Sandro Tonali and Martin Dubravka all impressed as they played their first minutes in Tottenham colours behind closed doors at Hotspur Way, with Jan Paul van Hecke and Andy Robertson watching on from the sidelines.

Tottenham made a lively start to the match as they faced the newly promoted Dons, with Dominic Solanke denied an opener seconds in by Craig MacGillivray.

They would not have to wait much longer for the opener, though. With less than three minutes played, a Mathys Tel corner was punched clear as far as the debutant Fernandes, whose sweet first-time volley rattled in off the post to put Spurs one to the good.

There was plenty more to be impressed with in the opening exchanges. The midfield three of Fernandes, Sandro Tonali and Conor Gallagher worked a treat, supported by a typically composed Archie Gray performance. Manor Solomon, returning from a loan spell at Fiorentina, had plenty of joy down the right flank, as did Rio Kyrematen on the opposite flank.

MK Dons offered little going forward, but what few chances they had were defended well by Kota Takai, who missed most of last summer’s pre-season campaign with an injury, and the returning Ben Davies, playing for the first time since breaking his ankle in the spring.

Chances, on the whole, were few and far between, but there was plenty for De Zerbi to smile about as the half-time whistle blew and he lined up ten changes. Young prospects Luca Williams-Barnett, Mikey Moore and Dane Scarlett were among the fresh faces introduced, alongside veterans Richarlison and Martin Dubravka.

The direction of play swung in the Dons' favour with those adjustments made, though they could not find their way through a back line bolstered by the inspired Malachi Hardy.

Both sides had goals ruled out in the second half. Richarlison had the ball in the back of the net after a tidy dinked finish but was denied by the offside flag, while a Dons’ goal from a corner was chalked off for a foul on Dubravka.

The visitors may have been directing traffic, but Spurs had two gilt-edge chances to add a second in the late stages. Richarlison drew a routine parry from MacGillivray with a close-range shot, before Yang Min-Hyeok missed an open goal after latching onto a superb pass from Williams-Barnett.

Dubravka, debuting with a new club for the eighth time in his senior career, also managed to contribute to a positive day for Tottenham debutants, denying a pacey headed effort with a smart parry ten minutes from time.

Standard Sport understands that Olusessi was not part of the 36-man squad that travelled to New Zealand for the club’s pre-season tour on Thursday as he continues to recover from injury.

The 19-year-old has, however, been told that he will be in and around De Zerbi’s squad next season, with the club having no intention of selling him.

Standard Sport understands that Spurs consider Olusesi to be part of a small group of academy players that they believe can challenge for first-team minutes this season or in the future.

Centre-back Jun’ai Byfield, who has also been told he is part of De Zerbi’s plans, and forward Luca Williams-Barnett are also believed to be part of this group. It is unclear, though, whether Williams-Barnett will be part of the first team squad this season.

Olusesi was linked with a permanent move away from Spurs in January, with Standard Sport reporting that Hoffenheim and PSV Eindhoven had both had bids rejected for the England youth international.

He made his Premier League debut off the bench during Spurs’ 1-1 draw away to Liverpool in March before making his Champions League debut three days later as Spurs beat Atletico Madrid 3-2 in the second leg of their 7-5 aggregate defeat to Diego Simeone’s side.

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