Credit: Imago

James Barker

Wed 27 May 2026 8:10, UK

Destiny Udogie put in some very encouraging performances for Tottenham Hotspur under Roberto De Zerbi at the end of the 2025-26 season.

If you’d said to most Tottenham fans at the time of Igor Tudor’s exit that come the end of the season you wouldn’t want it to end, you would’ve been laughed at for posing such an impossible emotion.

Fast-forward to the evening of Sunday 24 May, and that’s exactly how the vast majority of Spurs supporters will be feeling.

Such was the turnaround in performances and results that De Zerbi got out of his team in such a short space of time, that by the end, his Lilywhites side deserved to stay up.

Another who won’t have wanted the season to end is Udogie, as the Italian left-back ended his 2025-26 campaign by playing very well indeed.

Destiny Udogie ended the season strong under Roberto De Zerbi

A number of nagging injury issues limited Udogie to just 28 total appearances in the 2025-26 season, with 20 of those coming in the Premier League.

However, even when fit, the 23-year-old has largely blown hot and cold during his three years in North London, making him a very divisive and frustrating player among Spurs supporters.

Udogie’s potential has always been obvious, as when he does play well, he’s an extremely fun and exciting left-back to watch.

But numerous Tottenham managers have found it hard to get the best out of him on a consistent basis, and there was scepticism over Udogie’s fit under De Zerbi.

Judging from the numbers he put up in the final weeks of the season under his fellow countryman, however, De Zerbi may just be the coach he’s been waiting for in N17.

On the final day against Everton (as per FotMob), Udogie completed 91 per cent of his passes accurately, played three passes into the final third, won five of his six ground duels and won two fails whilst committing zero himself.

In the 1-1 draw with Leeds on 11 May, he made seven defensive contributions, won both of his ground duels and his lone aerial duel, again giving zero fouls away whilst also winning two tackles.

The 2-1 win away at Aston Villa saw Udogie complete 100 per cent of his 28 pass attempts accurately, whilst also creating two chances, playing four passes into the final third and making three recoveries respectively.

Udogie averaged 1.14 fouls committed per game, 4.57 defensive contributions, 50 per cent duels won, 38.1 per cent aerial duels won, 0.81 chances created and recorded an 85.5 per cent pass success rate in the Premier League last season.

So, when you compare those numbers to the ones he was putting up in the final games of the campaign, it’s clear that Udogie was largely performing well above average in many of these categories under De Zerbi’s management.

Udogie was starting to form a dangerous Tottenham partnership

It wasn’t just Udogie who started stepping his game up towards the end of last season, as the same can absolutely be said for Mathys Tel.

The 21-year-old left winger averaged a 7.2 match rating over his final four league games of the season, which is a considerable improvement on his season-long average FotMob rating of 6.7.

He grabbed an assist against Aston Villa and a goal against Leeds respectively, and with Udogie behind him, those two started to form a very exciting and dangerous duo down that left flank.

Both players have pace to burn, and seeing those two charging down the wing must be a right-back’s worst nightmare, especially when they’re producing the goods in terms of performance levels too.

With both of these two still young and developing talents, if De Zerbi has indeed found their respective recipes for success, then they could be the dynamite duo down Tottenham’s left for many seasons to come.