Roberto De Zerbi has confirmed that new Tottenham captain Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro will miss the opening Premier League match against Brentford.
Spurs travel across London on Saturday evening, with De Zerbi aiming to get his side back to the top-end of the Premier League after back-to-back 17th place finishes. In order to do so, the Italian has spent big this summer, signing the likes of Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Jan Paul van Hecke and Andy Robertson.
World Cup winner unavailable
Additionally, Tottenham now have a World Cup winner in their squad in Porro, who was outstanding for Spain throughout the tournament. But the right-back will not play this weekend, with Spurs dealt several injury blows on the eve of the new season.
'Micky is not on the list tomorrow like Pedro Porro,' De Zerbi said in his pre-match press conference, shortly after announcing the pair were the new Tottenham captain and vice-captain. 'James Maddison is inside [the list], Dominic Solanke inside, [Destiny] Udogie inside, Mateus Fernandes inside.
'Pape Matar Sarr is not because he felt some pain, hamstring I think. Nothing important but we don't take risks especially in this moment. [Mohammed] Kudus is almost ready.'
Van de Ven fitness update
It is not clear whether Porro is injured or just having extra time to recover after returning late to training following his World Cup heroics.
Speaking about Van de Ven, who has suffered numerous injury issues during his three seasons in north London, De Zerbi added: 'Today he worked with us, with the group and he is going very well.
'He suffered a problem during the pre-season of Australia, I don't know if it was the flight, but not a big problem.
'We have [Marcos] Senesi and we have Ben Davies in the right condition to play the game tomorrow.'
