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The squad for the 2016-17 season is starting to take shape. We already know that Nabil Bentaleb, Alex Pritchard, Clinton N’Jie, and Federico Fazio are not part of Mauricio Pochettino’s plans for this season. Nacer Chadli and Tom Carroll may also be on the move and the backup right back slot is up for grabs with last year’s backup Kieran Trippier battling with American international DeAndre Yedlin for the role.
This week will likely be important for making these final decisions. Spurs have two Australian friendlies with Juventus and Atletico this week. Presumably Chadli, Carroll, Trippier, and Yedlin will all get playing time, as will Ryan Mason, another player on the edges of the Tottenham squad. (We have already posted the full squad for the Australia tour.)
Last year these matches were where we saw Eric Dier make his debut as a holding midfielder and Dele Alli start in midfield. So big things can happen in these games, particularly as they concern places in the team that could be up for grabs. Keep an especially close eye on Mason, Carroll, Trippier, and Yedlin this week. These four players are, presumably, the ones with the most to gain from a good tour.
On to the links:
Spurs will make at least £2.85m in appearance fees while in Australia.
Raphael Honigstein’s latest on a new advanced stat called “packing” is worth your time. (The folks at the Short Fuse are getting excited for the season based on Xhaka’s “packing” stats.)
Real Madrid hasn’t done much this summer, as it appears that they’ve been pipped to Paul Pogba by Manchester United and to Andre Gomes by Barcelona. They can’t afford to do nothing though.