Destiny Udogie is back on the pitch for Tottenham, but Roberto De Zerbi has made it clear that a few minutes off the bench against Crystal Palace don’t mean the left-back’s problems are over.
The Italy international replaced Andrew Robertson in the second half of Saturday’s 2-0 win over 10-man Palace, his first appearance since the draw at Manchester United. It was only a brief run-out in a game Tottenham already had under control.
De Zerbi’s comments afterwards were the telling part, because he didn’t talk about Udogie’s fitness as a one-week issue. He talked about it as something the club have been unable to fix so far.
What did De Zerbi say about Destiny Udogie’s fitness?
He gave an update on Udogie and Pedro Porro together, and the two stories were very different. Porro, he explained, was ready and had told him before kick-off that he wouldn’t play the full game, a call we looked at in more detail when Archie Gray made way at half-time.
On Udogie, his hopes were more modest. “And with Udogie, hopefully we can work many weeks in a row. Until now, it was not possible,” De Zerbi said after the game.
That fits with what he said on the eve of the match. The manager had passed Udogie fit for the Palace game, but with a warning attached: “He is available. He can’t work consistently during the week. After Man United he didn’t work with us for a long time.”
How long has the knee problem kept him out?
Udogie played more than 70 minutes of the 1-1 draw at Manchester United before Micky van de Ven replaced him, and De Zerbi later said he had hurt his knee in that game. He then sat out the 3-1 win over Coventry as a precaution and missed the victory at Chelsea as well.
He was still in discomfort going into that trip to Stamford Bridge. “Destiny still feels pain. Maybe next week he can be available,” De Zerbi said at the time, and next week is exactly when he came back.
This isn’t new for him either. He had hamstring trouble at the end of 2023-24 and again midway through 2024-25, and knee and hamstring problems limited him to 20 Premier League appearances last season. Spurs have won three league games in a row without needing him to start, so there’s no need to rush him.
Where does this leave Andrew Robertson?
In the shirt, for now. Robertson started at left-back at Stamford Bridge and again against Palace, and De Zerbi named him among the players who are improving: “But we are improving with Archie Gray, with Robertson, the two central backs very well, to take the command of the game.”
So the competition on the left isn’t quite what it looks like on paper. Having two left-backs is only useful if both can train, and one of them hasn’t been able to do that for any length of time.
Verdict: Destiny Udogie shouldn’t start at Elland Road yet
Spurs go to Leeds on Saturday 7 November, with a 12.30pm kick-off at Elland Road. That gives Udogie six days to do what De Zerbi says he hasn’t been able to do: train, then train again.
We’d keep Robertson in the side and bring Udogie off the bench again. If he gets through the week and another 20 or 30 minutes, then the conversation about his place can start. Rush him and Spurs could be back where they were last month, with De Zerbi’s “many weeks in a row” still waiting to begin.
