Tottenham's Pre-Season Finale: Maddison and Fernandes Return
Tottenham’s final pre-season run-out of the summer comes with a familiar opponent and a very unfamiliar-looking squad.
Barely 24 hours after sweeping Hoffenheim aside 3-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs are facing the Bundesliga side again on Sunday, this time tucked away behind closed doors at Hotspur Way. The public saw Mikey Moore light up the first game. The second is more about who’s back – and who’s still missing.
Maddison finally returns
James Maddison starts and, for Tottenham, that is the headline. This is his first appearance of pre-season after an unspecified issue that followed his recovery from the anterior cruciate ligament injury which wiped out most of his last campaign. No easing in, no gentle cameo. Roberto De Zerbi has him in from the off.
Alongside him is another long-awaited sight: Mateus Fernandes. The £85million signing from West Ham has barely been seen since a minor calf problem cut short his involvement on the club’s tour of New Zealand and Australia. Here, he’s trusted from the start, a clear sign Spurs want him up to speed quickly with the Premier League opener at Brentford just a week away.
Midfield muscle and a reshaped back line
The spine around them looks stronger too. Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Matar Sarr both return to the XI, bolstering a midfield that has looked stretched at times this summer. On the left, Brazilian full-back Souza starts, the January signing back in the side despite already being linked with a move away from north London.
In defence, Kevin Danso gets another chance to settle after his chaotic cameo in Sydney, where he was sent off shortly after coming on in that dramatic 2-1 win over Chelsea. Ben Davies, the veteran presence, lines up alongside him, offering some much-needed stability.
Brandon Austin starts in goal, while De Zerbi leans heavily into youth elsewhere. Luca Williams-Barnett, Tye Hall and Damola Ajayi all come into the side, and the bench underlines the club’s commitment to its academy: 15-year-old goalkeeper Mikel Jack is among the substitutes, already being talked about as one to watch.
Big absences linger before Brentford
For all the welcome returns, the gaps are impossible to ignore.
Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie are still nowhere to be seen. Neither defender has played a single minute of pre-season, a major concern with the Premier League campaign about to start. The left side of Spurs’ defence, so important to their build-up play, remains a giant question mark.
Up front, Dominic Solanke is again missing. He has not featured since playing 45 minutes against Chelsea on August 1 in his second outing of the summer. Behind him in the pecking order, Mohammed Kudus is also sidelined, not yet ready to play despite rejoining training after recovering from a serious quad injury.
Dejan Kulusevski is back on the grass after a knee injury that has kept him out since May 2025, but his competitive return is still expected to be some way off. On the opposite flank, Pedro Porro has not featured at all in pre-season, only just returning from an extended break following Spain’s World Cup triumph earlier this week.
So Spurs head into their final friendly split in two: key creative pieces like Maddison and Fernandes finally back in the frame, while the defensive core and attacking depth remain patched together. With Brentford looming, the question is no longer who looks sharp in pre-season – it’s whether De Zerbi will have enough of his first-choice side fit when the real thing starts.
