Tottenham Hotspur may not have lost a single game during pre-season, but Roberto De Zerbi will have learned far more than just his side’s results ahead of his first full season in charge.
It has been a wonderful pre-season run by Tottenham, who remain unbeaten in the seven games they have played, winning five and drawing two.
Those seven games will have given De Zerbi a good idea of his players ahead of the new campaign, including who his core group are, who he can count on, who may need to be moved on, the team’s strengths and weaknesses, and perhaps most importantly, where they still need to improve and strengthen.
With the 2026/27 Premier League season kicking off with a trip to Brentford on Saturday, here are five things we think De Zerbi will have learned from Tottenham’s pre-season.
Sandro Tonali is De Zerbi’s £100m midfield general
Until this summer, Tottenham’s record signing was Dominic Solanke, who cost £65m when he arrived from Bournemouth in 2024. The same figure for most of Spurs’ big six rivals was considerably higher, and that perhaps goes some way towards explaining the struggles of the last two seasons.
That changed this summer when Tottenham smashed their transfer record to sign Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United for £100m.
The price tag has already started to explain itself, with the Italian having played the sixth-most minutes of any Tottenham player across the 7 friendlies, and even scoring once with a stunning effort against Chelsea while consistently putting in impressive shifts.
As recently as Saturday’s 3-0 win over Hoffenheim, Tonali was behind Richarlison’s opener when he managed to escape two players pressing him with one clever touch before finding Andy Robertson, who then provided the assist for a simple finish.
After a season in which Tottenham struggled to build goals from open play, with so many coming from set pieces or scrappy situations, it is finally nice to have a midfielder who can break a press so easily with their vision and then set up attacks with such quality.
Richarlison will be the lead striker for the first month at least
Despite Fabrizio Romano suggesting that Tottenham are expected to add a striker this month, De Zerbi knows he will have to work with Richarlison until that happens because, to be fair, he does not have another option.
Dominic Solanke is currently dealing with an ankle injury, and his return date remains unknown, leaving Richarlison as the only fit senior striker in the squad.
That is not necessarily a bad thing for Spurs, either, given the Brazilian has just finished pre-season as Tottenham’s top scorer, finding the net three times across the six games he featured in.
Richarlison himself has been linked with a move away amid Tottenham’s interest in Victor Osimhen and Omar Marmoush, but there have been no concrete developments with either player yet.
It would also be difficult to see Spurs sanctioning Richarlison’s departure without first bringing in another forward.
Injuries and lack of fitness are a real problem
Tottenham are not strangers to this problem, having dealt with one of the worst injury situations in the Premier League during each of the last two seasons.
Heading into the new campaign, it is once again something Tottenham’s new head coach has to worry about.
As mentioned, Solanke is currently dealing with an ankle injury, and there is no confirmed return date.
Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie have not featured in any of Spurs’ seven pre-season friendlies, although Udogie is reportedly fit and there are no known injury concerns surrounding Van de Ven.
Their minutes are simply being managed, but neither has been spotted training with the team yet, so their return remains unclear as well.
Mohammed Kudus is another concern, given he has been out with a hamstring injury since the turn of the year and returned to full training only earlier this month. However, he was not risked in any of the friendlies, meaning there is still little indication of his match fitness.
Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons are expected to miss large parts of the year with ACL injuries, while Dejan Kulusevski, who last featured in May 2025, has been recovering from a complicated knee injury. He returned to individual training this month but is likely still some way from being match-ready.
Lack of forward options is staggering
There are less than two weeks left until the transfer window closes, and it makes perfect sense that Tottenham are looking for three attacking reinforcements given how thin their options currently are.
De Zerbi has just one fit senior left winger in Mathys Tel and one fit senior striker in Richarlison among all of his forward options.
That is exactly why teenagers Mikey Moore and Luca Williams-Barnett could potentially find themselves involved against Brentford on Saturday.
In fact, during Tottenham’s second pre-season friendly against Hoffenheim on Sunday, De Zerbi fielded a front three of 17-year-old Williams-Barnett, midfielder Pape Sarr and another midfielder who plays for the Under-21 side, Damola Ajayi.
Having just two senior forwards available is far from Premier League standard, and it will inevitably come back to bite Spurs if they fail to bring in attacking reinforcements before the window closes.
Roberto De Zerbi can count on Archie Gray
The winner of Tottenham’s Player of the Season award for 2025/26, Archie Gray finished the pre season run with more minutes than any other Spurs player and looked solid throughout, whether playing at right-back or in midfield.
Already tipped to become a future Tottenham captain, the 20-year-old wore the armband whenever he started, with De Zerbi himself backing that decision by describing Gray as the ‘present and the future of the club’.
The Italian has consistently spoken highly of Gray when asked about him, praising his versatility and his ability to cover so many positions across the pitch at such a young age.
That is particularly notable given Gray had not found much playing time under De Zerbi towards the end of last season while Spurs were battling relegation.
However, De Zerbi revealed that he had been working with Gray through ‘individual meetings’ in the summer, and you can already see how much of an improved player he has become on the ball during the preseason.
There is little doubt that Gray will play a huge part in what Tottenham are trying to build this season.