Tottenham Hotspur’s pre-season plans under Roberto De Zerbi are continuing to be formalised with a new match confirmed for late July
Tottenham are set to play a behind-closed-doors friendly next month as Roberto De Zerbi gets to work and continues to analyse his squad during the transfer window.
Spurs have confirmed that they will welcome League One side MK Dons to Hotspur Way on Wednesday July 22 as part of their pre-season preparations. With the World Cup pushing the start of the Premier League season back to August 22, De Zerbi’s first team players are not expected back to pre-season work until the end of the second week of July for early medical and physical work before getting on to the pitches fully at the beginning of the week starting July 13.
Unless another training ground friendly is arranged that following weekend, the MK Dons game could be the first chance for De Zerbi to look over his Spurs squad and their early physical status. That will mean those players not at the World Cup and hopefully those who have had long-term injuries such as James Maddison and potentially Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski.
It will also allow De Zerbi to make some transfer and loan decisions as he will be able to look more closely at many of the U21s players and those first teamers who have come back from loan such as Mikey Moore, Will Lankshear, Jamie Donley, Manor Solomon, Ashley Phillips and various others that the Italian has not worked with yet.
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MK Dons finished second in League Two last season, meaning they achieved automatic promotion back to League One under head coach Paul Warne. Spurs have faced the Buckinghamshire side before in pre-season, five years ago, with a 3-1 victory at Stadium MK, featuring goals from Heung-Min Son, Dele Alli and Lucas Moura.
Soon after the game against the Dons next month, Spurs will fly off to New Zealand to take on Auckland FC on Sunday, July 26 at Eden Park. The following day, they move on to Australia for a fixture against A-League side Sydney FC on Wednesday, July 29 at the Allianz Stadium.
Then Tottenham will meet Premier League opposition in the Australian city as part of the 2026 Sydney Super Cup, with a first match outside the UK against local rivals Chelsea on Saturday, August 1 at the 83,500-capacity Accor Stadium.
