Roberto De Zerbi may have dropped Jan Paul van Hecke hint as Tottenham training image emerges

Roberto De Zerbi has had to carefully manage his Tottenham Hotspur squad during the pre-season tour of New Zealand and Australia.

A youthful-looking side captained by Archie Gray defeated Auckland FC 2-0 in their opening fixture of the trip.

Another blend of first-teamers and youngsters then needed a shoot-out to defeat Sydney FC after a 1-1 draw.

It means that Netherlands defender Jan Paul van Hecke has yet to make his first outing since joining from Brighton in a £52million.

Van Hecke of course represented his country at the World Cup, so is running a little behind some of his team-mates.

But an image that appeared on social media on Friday suggests that Van Hecke could be about to get his first outing.

What was seen of Jan Paul van Hecke in Tottenham training?

Tottenham News regular covered how Tottenham defender Van Hecke performed for Netherlands at the World Cup.

That involvement is mainly why we have yet to see him done the Spurs jersey during the pre-season tour.

But, Lilywhite Rose posted on X on Friday two images taken during an opening training session.

The first image contained 11 players wearing orange bibs, which would represent a pretty strong line-up to face Chelsea in Sydney on Saturday.

It included: Arhie Gray, Van Hecke, Ben Davies, Andrew Robertson, Sandro Tonali, Lucas Bergvall, Conor Gallagher, Mathys Tel, Dominic Solanke, Manor Solomon, and Luca Williams-Barnett.

The second image of a team in yellow bibs was noticably more on the youthful side.

It may hint that De Zerbi was prepping two different line-ups to face Chelsea, and if so then Van Hecke could get his first run out against the Blues.

What will Van Hecke bring to Tottenham?

Van Hecke is well known to De Zerbi, who coached him at Brighton.

The 26-year-old is a composed centre-back, who is comfortable on the ball, and will be crucial in helping Spurs build out attacks from defence.

Last season in the Premier League, he averaged 1.3 interceptions, 1.5 tackles, and 3.1 interceptions per 90 minutes.

He also had 5.3 clearances and 0.8 blocks per 90, though his willingness to take risks did lead to four goals leading to a goal.

But often the risk-reward is worth it, because Van Hecke had three assists last season.

Moreover, he averaged 0.4 key passes per game, had an 87 per cent pass success rate, and was successful with 60 per cent of his dribbles.

Hopefully, Spurs fans get a chance to see what he can bring against Chelsea, but it feels a matter of time before he is involved either way.