Tottenham begin their pre-season tour against Auckland FC with eight senior players missing, and the story is already more about availability than the friendly itself. Guglielmo Vicario is out after what Spurs described as a minor knock, Marcos Senesi is the only new signing not travelling, and the squad in New Zealand is a stretched 35-man group.
The players who did not travel
Tottenham said Vicario suffered a minor knock, so his absence is injury-related rather than a selection call. Pape Matar Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur have been granted extended leave following the World Cup, while Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero and Djed Spence also did not travel.
The club have also left Senesi behind, even though he is the only new signing not on tour. That is the detail that stands out most in a week built around fresh faces and early-season testing.
Roberto De Zerbi has also used the trip to give minutes and exposure to younger players in the group, with Luca Williams-Barnett and Mikey Moore among those pushing for involvement.
A crowded rebuild around a thin tour squad
The wider context is not hard to see. Tottenham have already spent more than £200 million on six new players this summer, and last season ended with a 17th-place finish and 41 points in the Premier League.
That helps explain why the tour is being treated as a live working session rather than a gentle run-out. Auckland FC finished third in the A-League last season, so this is not a meaningless opponent, and a record crowd is expected at Eden Park on Sunday.
There is still the separate question of what this absence list says about players such as Vicario and Romero. The source material does not settle whether either has played their last game for Tottenham, and that is the sensible line to take right now.
The immediate fact is simpler: Spurs head into the Auckland FC fixture with a depleted squad, one notable omission in Senesi, and a manager already leaning on a tour that looks designed to stretch the group before the season proper begins.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
