Tottenham Pre-Season Tour Kicks Off in Auckland with High Expectations

Tottenham touch down in the southern hemisphere this weekend with something they have not carried for a while: genuine expectation.

Roberto De Zerbi’s pre-season tour of New Zealand and Australia opens on Sunday at Eden Park, where Spurs face Auckland FC in front of what is expected to be a record crowd. It is the first public glimpse of a squad rebuilt at speed and at great expense, and a fanbase thousands of miles from north London will get to judge the early work up close.

New era, big spend

The warm-up has already begun. Behind closed doors on Wednesday, Spurs edged past MK Dons 1-0, a quiet, controlled start to a summer that has been anything but. More than £200million has already gone on six new signings, an aggressive reshaping that jars with the reality of back-to-back 17th-place finishes in the Premier League.

Money has brought scrutiny with it. So has De Zerbi. The Italian steps into this tour with a 35-man squad and the clear brief to turn lavish investment into a coherent, front-foot team.

Of the new faces, only Argentina centre-back Marcos Senesi has not made the trip. The rest of the headline arrivals are on the plane: Sandro Tonali to dictate in midfield, Mateus Fernandes to add legs and bite, Andy Robertson to bring title-winning know-how at left-back, Jan Paul van Hecke to bolster the defence, and Martin Dubravka to deepen the goalkeeping pool.

This is not a gentle tune-up. It is a travelling laboratory for a manager known for sharp ideas and sharper demands.

Big names missing, big chances offered

The squad list comes with notable absentees. Guglielmo Vicario stays behind after what the club called a “minor knock”, a description that does little to quieten the noise around his future. Cristian Romero is also missing after his World Cup exertions, and like Vicario, sits at the centre of heavy speculation over a possible move away.

Pape Matar Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur have been granted extended leave following the World Cup, a sensible pause after long seasons and deep runs, but their absence removes two of De Zerbi’s most progressive midfield options from this opening stretch.

Others who went deep into the tournament – Pedro Porro, Romero and Djed Spence – have also not travelled. The tour party, for all the new signings, is not yet the finished article De Zerbi will rely on when the competitive games start.

Injuries strip away more star power. Mohammed Kudus, Dejan Kulusevski, Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert all remain at Hotspur Way, still working through rehabilitation from long-term problems. For a club that has spent heavily on attacking talent, it means the attacking puzzle remains incomplete, at least for now.

The upside? Space. Opportunity. The gaps created by senior absences open the door to the academy.

Luca Williams-Barnett, who caught the eye in the win over MK Dons, steps forward as one of the tour’s most intriguing subplots. Mikey Moore, long tipped as a future first-teamer, has a stage and a manager who is not afraid to trust youth. De Zerbi will want to build on the early win; the youngsters will want to make it impossible for him to ignore them when the serious stuff begins.

Auckland test and a packed Eden Park

Auckland FC are no soft touch. They finished third in the A-League last season and will treat Spurs’ visit as an occasion, not a friendly. Eden Park is set for a record crowd on Sunday, a landmark night for the club and a rare chance for local supporters to see a Premier League side in their own backyard.

Spurs are expected to split their resources, likely fielding a different starting XI in each half as De Zerbi spreads minutes, tests combinations and learns on the fly. Pre-season is always part fitness drill, part audition. This one feels more like a casting call for a new production.

The predicted Tottenham XI to start offers an early sketch of what that might look like: Kinsky; Takai, Micky van de Ven, Van Hecke, Destiny Udogie; Fernandes, Tonali; Yang, Moore, Mathys Tel; Dominic Solanke.

It is a blend of the established and the experimental, youth threaded through with expensive imports. Tonali’s presence at the base of midfield, Robertson’s experience when he features, Van de Ven’s pace in defence – these are the pillars Spurs hope will lift them away from the struggles of the last two campaigns.

On to Sydney and a London grudge match abroad

This is only the first stop. After Auckland, Spurs cross the Tasman to Australia, where Sydney FC await before a more emotionally charged date: a meeting with Chelsea on foreign soil next week.

For De Zerbi, the itinerary offers a clear rhythm. First, a showcase for the tourists in New Zealand. Then, a step up in intensity in Sydney. Finally, a chance to measure his evolving side against London rivals in a game that might be tagged as a friendly but never feels like one.

Spurs arrive in this part of the world with questions swirling around key players, a raft of expensive signings to bed in, and a manager whose ideas demand bravery and precision. The tour will not answer everything.

But when the whistle blows at 4am BST on Sunday, at Eden Park in Auckland, the talking stops and the evidence begins.