Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Football London
Football London
Sport
Alasdair Gold

Tanguy Ndombele and the Tottenham players who arrived for day one of Postecoglou's pre-season

The first day of pre-season and the Ange Postecoglou era at Tottenham Hotspur brought some familiar faces and some returning ones.

Saturday marked the start officially of the Australian's tenure at Spurs and so the club's non-internationals returned to the building to meet the 57-year-old and his new look coaching staff which includes senior assistant coach Chris Davies, assistant coaches Ryan Mason, Matt Wells and Mile Jedinak and goalkeeping coach Rob Burch.

The first day or two of pre-season is normally spent carrying out fitness tests on the players to check on their status following their time off.

Then they will launch into the tough work of a Postecoglou pre-season to prepare them for what he describes as 'relentless' training and match displays during the campaign. Training under the Australian during a season is 60-70 minutes of non-stop work and drills on the pitches but the summer is expected to be even tougher as the new head coach gets the players into the shape required to play his high energy, non-stop style of attacking and pressing football.

With the U21s having returned on Thursday, the early first team arrivals back at Hotspur Way on Saturday included club captain Hugo Lloris, Yves Bissouma, Pedro Porro, Emerson Royal, Tanguy Ndombele, Djed Spence, Bryan Gil, Ryan Sessegnon, Sergio Reguilon, Fraser Forster, Japhet Tanganga, Alfie Devine, Dane Scarlett, Troy Parrott, Harvey White, Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman. The injured Rodrigo Bentancur was also back at the training complex as part of his rehabilitation.

Eric Dier is expected to return for pre-season training at the Enfield complex on Monday as he follows the schedule late out for him after his groin surgery towards the end of last season.

Harry Winks was not present as he completed his £10m move to Leicester City, following the end of his loan at Serie A side Sampdoria.

READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou's unusual but effective technique already having an impact on Tottenham players

Those of various ages who have been on international duty, including Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison and new signings James Maddison and Guglielmo Vicario are allowed contractually to have 21 consecutive days of rest after their final matches they were involved in, which means some could start returning from July 9, with most expected on July 12.

A few could well choose to return early in order to impress the new boss and start taking on his very different system and instructions as quickly as possible.

All but two of the squad will be back in time for the summer tour to Perth, Bangkok and Singapore, although football.london understands there is a possibility that Son could fly direct to Australia from South Korea with a final decision yet to be made over that and whether to spare him the prospect of two long-haul flights around the world in the space of a couple of days.

Destiny Udogie and Oliver Skipp are likely to be the latest returnees to the group as they have both been involved in the European U21 Championships with Italy and England respectively.

Udogie's Italy exited in the group stages meaning his last game was on June 28 and a break of 21 days would have the 20-year-old left-back returning mid-tour, potentially for the second match against Leicester in Thailand. football.london understands though that there is a possibility Udogie could return early, from July 12 with the other internationals, to make sure he is on the tour as he looks to make a quick impression on Postecoglou.

Skipp and England face a quarter-final against Portugal on Sunday and should they manage to progress all the way to the final on July 8, then the young midfielder may not return to Postecoglou's squad until later in the month and potentially after the tour has finished if he uses all of his allotted 21-day rest period.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.