Alderweireld, Eriksen named to Tottenham’s Asian tour squad; Rose omitted

Tottenham Hotspur released its traveling squad for its preseason tour to Asia today, and as expected it’s chock full of interesting talking points and items for discussion. Spurs are leaving London today for Singapore to prepare for Sunday’s first International Champions Cup match against Juventus, and they will later travel to Shanghai for a match against Manchester United.

Here’s the squad, in full.

One of the things I love about the preseason tour squads is that it gives a chance to impress to a number of the kids from the academy. Jack Roles, who reportedly nearly left the club before signing a new contract in June, will be making what I think is his first preseason touring squad. Same with center backs Brooklyn Lyons-Foster and Japhet Tanganga, and central midfielders Jamie Bowden and Harvey White. Jonathan De Bie and Alfie Whiteman, both of Spurs’ U23 goalkeepers, are on the plane and presumably they will both be battling it out for who gets the third keeper number behind Hugo Lloris and Paulo Gazzaniga.

Then there’s Troy Parrott, the teenage Irish striker who has been getting a LOT of buzz over the past couple of seasons. This is is first opportunity to get senior minutes, and it will be very interesting to see if he gets a shot and what he can do with that chance.

There are couple of youngsters who are making their second straight tour — George Marsh, Oliver Skipp, and Anthony Georgiou will all get another chance to impress Mauricio Pochettino in midfield over the next week.

The absence of both Trippier and Aurier means Kyle Walker-Peters will be the only recognized right back on tour, so expect to see both Juan Foyth and youth players deputizing there against Juventus and Manchester United. As expected, both Toby Alderweireld and Christian Eriksen were named to the squad and will travel despite both being linked away from the club, and we’ll get our first chance to see new signing Tanguy Ndombele in action as well.

Of course, the list is just as interesting for the names that are NOT on it as it is for the ones that are. We already knew that Eric Dier and Danny Rose would both miss the squad — Dier for injury purposes and Rose as he will spend the tour time looking for a new club. Kieran Trippier is still in Spain finalizing his transfer to Atletico Madrid. Serge Aurier is recovering after taking the Ivory Coast to the semifinals of the African Cup of Nations.

But there’s more. Marcus Edwards is also not on the list, furthering suggestions that he will be sold. Same with Josh Onomah, who’s time in the Tottenham squad appears to be over. Young English-American center back Cameron Carter-Vickers is also missing, though there are reports that he is injured. Kaziah Sterling and Tashan Oakley-Boothe are also both missing despite making the squad last season. Davinson Sanchez has not yet reported for training after this summer’s Copa America, which is weird considering Juan Foyth played in the semifinals AND got married and is still on the plane.

Finally, there’s no spot on the plane for Vincent Janssen or Georges-Kevin Nkoudou. Fernando Llorente is also not there, furthering unconfirmed suggestions that he has been released by the club.

What do you think of the squad? Who are you anxious to see in action? Who do you wish had gotten a seat on the plane?