Destiny Udogie and Richarlison likely to return ahead of season opener, confirms Ange Postecoglou
Speaking to his club’s in-house media team in a recent interview, Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou confirmed that two of his first-team players, Destiny Udogie and Richarlison, would return to the setup ahead of his side’s first game of the season.
The Lilywhites are on their way back from a tour of Asia that took them to South Korea and Japan and play three friendlies.
“We’ve still got two weeks (until the first game of the season). We’ll get some players back this week – obviously the internationals will be back, Destiny (Udogie) is back training with us, Richarlison should be back in the week – so we’ll get some of our top end players back into the group which I think will help. Once we get back we’ve got 10 to 12 days before our first game and we’ll make sure we are ready.”
While Udogie is considered to remain a key part of the Aussie’s setup in the coming season, the same cannot be said for Richarlison, who has been linked with a move away all summer.
Spurs have one last friendly left in the pre-season as they host Bayern Munich at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this Saturday.
They kick off their Premier League season against the newly-promoted Leicester City on Monday, August 19.
All hands on deck
If Spurs are to build upon their fifth-place finish from the previous season, they’re going to need all their players available to the best of their capabilities this time round, especially with the revamped Europa League also in the mix.
With the added number of matches, Postecoglou is going to have an even harder time managing his players, making sure they don’t succumb to fatigue in the second half of the season the way they did last time round, ultimately missing out on Champions League football, which was very much achievable.
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Postecoglou’s football is attractive, his principles admirable, but they come at a cost. The team are going to have to be a bit more accepting of pragmatism if they are to edge closer to success.
