Tottenham's Fitness Boost After Poor Start
Tottenham’s season could hardly have opened in a darker mood. A 3-0 dismantling at Brentford, big money already spent, and a manager in Roberto De Zerbi publicly questioning his own squad’s fitness. Spurs looked undercooked, outpaced and short of ideas.
Now they’re scrambling for solutions, and the treatment room might finally offer some.
With a Carabao Cup tie against Charlton on Wednesday and Newcastle arriving in north London on Saturday for the first Premier League home game of the campaign, Spurs are hoping for a badly needed injection of senior players.
Van de Ven set to lead from the pitch at last
Micky van de Ven has already been handed the armband. He has yet to kick a competitive ball this season.
The new club captain watched from the sidelines at the Gtech Community Stadium, still paying the price for a pre-season setback picked up on tour in Australia. He missed every minute of the summer schedule and is now chasing sharpness while his team lurches through a rocky start.
De Zerbi, though, sounded encouraged last week.
“He worked with the group [on Friday], he's going very well,” the head coach said. “He suffered a problem during the pre-season in Australia, I don't know, the flight, I don't know, something, not a big problem, but not right to work.”
The expectation is clear: Van de Ven is being lined up to return against Newcastle at home on August 29, 2026. Spurs need their captain on the pitch, not in the stands.
Porro closing in after delayed return
Alongside him, another member of the new leadership group is edging back.
Pedro Porro, appointed first vice-captain, was also missing at Brentford and did not feature in pre-season. His absence was not down to injury at first, but timing. The right-back reported back late after Spain’s World Cup triumph, leaving him short of the work his team-mates had banked.
Now he is back in full training, working through the final stages of his fitness build-up after three weeks off. Spurs view him as close to ready, with the same target date as Van de Ven: Newcastle at home on August 29, 2026.
For a side that looked so flimsy defensively on opening day, the return of both senior defenders cannot come quickly enough.
Kudus “almost ready” after long lay-off
Further forward, there is a different kind of wait.
Mohammed Kudus has not played since January. A quad operation sidelined him for months, and a family bereavement took him back to Ghana last week. He is now back at Hotspur Way, back in training and, crucially, back in De Zerbi’s plans.
“Kudos is almost ready, that is a big point for us,” the Spurs boss said. “It's important also the management of the players, when the players have some problem, we have to stay calm, don't take risks.”
Tottenham have circled Nottingham Forest away on September 5, 2026 as a realistic return date. After such a long spell out, Kudus’s reintroduction could change the entire feel of their attacking play.
Maddison a fresh concern
Not every headline from the weekend concerned a returning face.
James Maddison, still searching for rhythm after his own disrupted build-up, is now a doubt for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Charlton. He landed awkwardly on his shoulder during the defeat at Brentford, another jolt on a grim afternoon.
Maddison came off the bench but could not wrestle the game back towards Spurs, and any setback now slows his path to full match fitness. De Zerbi will give a clearer picture at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday, but for now the club are braced for a nervous wait.
The working assumption is that he can still make Newcastle at home on August 29, 2026. Spurs can ill afford to lose his creativity for longer.
Sarr setback deemed “minor”
In midfield, Pape Matar Sarr’s absence at Brentford was a late and unwelcome twist.
The Senegal international, who did feature in pre-season and has attracted transfer interest, suffered a hamstring problem in the build-up to the opener and was ruled out. Spurs insist the issue is only minor, but they refused to gamble.
De Zerbi explained on Friday: “He felt pain in his hamstring two days ago. Nothing important, but we don’t take risk with him and especially in this moment."
The message is that Sarr should be ready for Newcastle on August 29, 2026. With Spurs overrun in midfield at Brentford, his energy and legs will be vital.
Kulusevski’s long road back
Then there is the longest-running story of all.
It has been almost 18 months since Dejan Kulusevski last played for Spurs. A serious knee injury has kept the Sweden international out for an entire era of the club’s evolution, and his rehabilitation has been slow, careful and at times brutal.
He is now back on the training pitches, but only in individual sessions, still separated from the main group as he builds strength and confidence.
De Zerbi laid bare the human side of the saga last week.
“He's working, not with the group but with the individual coach,” he said. “I'm observing him a lot, because first of all, he suffers too much, and as a human situation, it's been tough for him, and every one of us we are close with him for this period.
“Then he's a different player, he's a special player, if he's fit and he's available, he's a different player, like Xavi Simons."
There is no firm return date yet. Only the belief that, if Kulusevski does make it back in the first half of the season as planned, he could transform the attack.
Long-term absentees: Simons and Odobert
Xavi Simons is the other name Spurs fans are counting down for, but his comeback sits far further on the horizon.
The Dutch star was at Brentford on Saturday, supporting his team-mates from the stands. On the pitch, though, he is months away. An anterior cruciate ligament injury in the final games of last season brought a nine-month lay-off and effectively wiped out his 2026.
The club expect him back in early 2027.
Wilson Odobert, who suffered the same ACL injury even earlier than Simons, is working towards a slightly earlier return. The hope is to see him before the end of 2026, but nothing is guaranteed with such serious damage.
For now, Spurs must make do without two of their most exciting young talents.
So Tottenham stagger into a crucial week bruised, questioned and short-handed, but with the promise of reinforcements on the horizon. Van de Ven and Porro readying themselves, Sarr close, Kudus almost there, Maddison fighting to stay involved, Kulusevski inching forward.
The question is simple: will those bodies arrive in time to steady a season that already feels on edge?
