Tottenham Hotspur defender Jan Paul van Hecke has suggested the club's grueling pre-season tour to Australia and New Zealand caused a spate of summer injuries.
The Dutch centre-half revealed that long-distance travel and a tight summer schedule left players struggling physically before the start of the Premier League season.
Van Hecke, who signed for Tottenham Hotspur from Sussex-based Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion for £54million, had less than three weeks of rest after the World Cup before flying to Australasia to reunite with manager Roberto De Zerbi.
He played every minute of four matches for the Netherlands at the tournament in North America, which ended on June 30 in Mexico following an extra-time defeat on penalties against Morocco.
By July 24, Van Hecke landed in New Zealand for a friendly in Auckland, followed by two matches in Australia, making his first Spurs appearance against Chelsea in Sydney.
While acknowledging the commercial and emotional value of connecting with fans around the world, Van Hecke admitted the travel was physically exhausting.
"Everyone knows it's the other side of the world," said Van Hecke. "To go there and see all the people, you see they love football, they love Tottenham, that also gives you a really good feeling."
"But for physical-wise, of course, it impacts your body. I also struggled for one or two weeks after and that's not ideal," he added.
Summer Travel and Squad Injuries
Reflecting on his rapid transition to life under De Zerbi, Van Hecke explained his desire to feature in pre-season despite the short turnaround.
"I only had, like, two weeks, two-and-a-half weeks, it was a really short break, to be honest," said Van Hecke. "My first days were in New Zealand and Australia on the trip. But that's what you want. You want to play football, especially in a new club. I didn't want to miss anything in pre-season."
New Tottenham captain Micky van de Ven followed an identical post-World Cup timeline and failed to play any pre-season fixtures after suffering an injury during the tour.
"He suffered a problem during the pre-season in Australia," said De Zerbi last week. "I don't know, the flight, I don't know, something, not a big problem, but not right to work."
Van de Ven eventually returned as a second-half substitute when Spurs defeated London neighbours Charlton Athletic 5-1 in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.
Several other first-team players experienced minor pre-season injuries that curtailed their fitness preparation, including £85m signing Mateus Fernandes, James Maddison, Dominic Solanke, Kevin Danso and Destiny Udogie.
Maddison, who missed the majority of last season with a cruciate knee ligament injury, suffered a damaged shoulder after coming on as a substitute in Spurs' 3-0 defeat at Brentford on the opening day of the Premier League season, ruling him out for a couple of weeks more.
Physical Fitness Concerns and Recovery
Following the defeat against Brentford, De Zerbi admitted that Van Hecke, Marcos Senesi and new £100m signing Sandro Tonali were not in the right physical condition for differing reasons.
Argentine defender Senesi played in the World Cup final on July 19 and was omitted from the tour, alongside Pedro Porro, who also featured in the final, and Rodrigo Bentancur, who was granted extended summer leave.
Italian midfielder Tonali was neither injured nor involved in the World Cup, but De Zerbi explained that long flights and a dense fixture list disrupted his pre-season fitness regime.
"At the beginning of Australia we played every three days," said De Zerbi. "The trip was 25/26 hours and the day after we couldn't work in the right condition."
"When we came here [back to London], we couldn't work immediately because there was a friendly game against Getafe," De Zerbi added. "In the last two weeks, the players from the World Cup came and we worked in different situations, but I think he needs more time like JP."
Tonali and Senesi were rested for the Carabao Cup tie against Charlton to spend Tuesday working on an intense physical session, with De Zerbi confirming Tonali will start against Newcastle United on Saturday.
