One of Tottenham's most important stars is suddenly at risk of missing Brentford match, too
Tottenham Hotspur are already carrying a few doubts heading into their first match of the 2026/27 Premier League season against local rivals Brentford, as Destiny Udogie, Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison, Mateus Fernandes, and Mohammed Kudus are six potential starters who are questionable to doubtful to be in the XI as they try to be fully fit. And that leaves Spurs attack thin when they are already pushing hard to sign the trio of Omar Marmoush, Cody Gakpo, and Savinho before the summer 2026 transfer window closes at the end of the month.
Now, Tottenham suddenly have a major doubt on the defensive end, as Tom Barclay of The Sun reports that star center back Micky van de Ven did not train on Thursday ahead of Matchday 1. On the bright side, four of the questionable players above did return to training in Solanke, Maddison, Udogie, and Fernandes.
Van de Ven missing from action would not be as impactful this season as it would have been last season, because Spurs are deeper after replacing Cristian Romero, who signed with Atletico Madrid recently, with Jan Paul van Hecke and Marcos Senesi.
Micky van de Ven may be a doubt vs. Brentford
Although Van de Ven and Van Hecke are the expected starters in central defense for Roberto De Zerbi, there are a few Tottenham Hotspur supporters who would like to see Senesi push one of them, in particular Van de Ven, for starts, as he outplayed both central defenders last season at Bournemouth and was a legitimate Premier League Team of the Season candidate for the Cherries.
It looks like Marcos Senesi could already get his first opportunity to send that sort of a message to Micky van de Ven and the manager this coming Saturday if Van de Ven has indeed suffered some sort of a new injury.
Though there is also always the possibility that the Dutch international has simply missed a day of training for personal reasons and will be back, so De Zerbi and the club will have to clarify things. But it looks like Van de Ven is another crucial starter for Tottenham fans to put on the list of potential absences against Brentford.
Even though Senesi is amazing on the ball and a fully capable Premier League starter, he isn't as good of a pure defender as Van de Ven and lacks his speed, which will be very important in defending transitions against the Bees.
