Tottenham Pre-Season: Maddison and Fernandes Return Ahead of Brentford

Tottenham will round off their pre-season schedule behind closed doors on Sunday still missing a clutch of senior names, but with two key returns lighting up Roberto De Zerbi’s second look at Hoffenheim in as many days.

Barely 24 hours after a 3-0 win over the Bundesliga side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – a game in which teenager Mikey Moore stole the spotlight – Spurs are running it back at Hotspur Way, this time in a much more controlled, training-ground setting.

Maddison finally back on the pitch

The headline is simple: James Maddison starts.

The playmaker makes his first appearance of the summer after an unspecified issue delayed his comeback from the anterior cruciate ligament injury that wiped out most of his last campaign. De Zerbi has him in from the off, a significant step with the Premier League opener at Brentford looming next weekend.

Alongside him, another big-money piece of the new Tottenham era is also back in view. Mateus Fernandes, the £85million signing from West Ham, returns to the XI after a minor calf problem cut short his involvement on the club’s pre-season tour of New Zealand and Australia. For Spurs fans, seeing both creative hubs on the teamsheet is a welcome sight after a stop-start summer.

Midfield options swell, defence still thin

There is more good news in the middle of the pitch. Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Matar Sarr both come back into the side against Hoffenheim in Enfield, restoring some of the bite and balance that De Zerbi will lean on once the real stuff starts.

On the left, Brazilian full-back Souza also returns. Signed in January and already the subject of transfer speculation despite barely settling in north London, he gets another chance to stake his claim.

Kevin Danso, sent off shortly after coming on in that dramatic 2-1 win over Chelsea in Sydney earlier this month, lines up in defence again, joined by veteran Ben Davies. Brandon Austin starts in goal.

Around them, De Zerbi leans into the academy. Luca Williams-Barnett, Tye Hall and Damola Ajayi all start, while the bench underlines the club’s youth drive: highly rated 15-year-old goalkeeper Mikel Jack is among the substitutes.

The absences, though, are hard to ignore.

With Brentford away just days away, neither Micky van de Ven nor Destiny Udogie has played a single minute of pre-season. Both are missing again, leaving a sizeable question mark over what De Zerbi’s back line will actually look like when the Premier League kicks off.

Attack still short, stars still waiting

Up front, the picture is no clearer.

Dominic Solanke sits out once more, having not featured since playing 45 minutes against Chelsea on August 1 in his second outing of the summer. Mohammed Kudus, back in training after a serious quad injury, is also not yet ready to return to action.

Dejan Kulusevski has rejoined training after the knee injury that has kept him out since May 2025, but his comeback is still some way off. Pedro Porro, meanwhile, has not featured at all in pre-season after only returning this week from an extended break following Spain’s World Cup triumph.

So Spurs close their summer with two games against the same opponent in less than a day: one under the lights with a packed stadium, the other hidden away at their training base. The first brought goals and a teenage star turn. The second, at last, brings Maddison and Fernandes back into the fold.

Now the question is simple: can De Zerbi knit this patched-together pre-season into a side ready to hit Brentford at full speed?