Credit: Imago

James Barker

Tue 2 June 2026 12:40, UK

Kevin Danso didn’t enjoy a great night at the office on Monday night, as the Tottenham Hotspur defender played 45 minutes in Austria’s friendly with Tunisia.

The 27-year-old enjoyed a solid first full season as a Tottenham player in 2025-26, having initially joined on loan from Lens in the winter of 2025.

He turned out 24 times in the Premier League last term, with 17 of those being as part of the starting lineup.

Danso saved the majority of his best performances for when the Lilywhites needed them most during the run-in, and was one of the big beneficiaries of Roberto De Zerbi‘s arrival as manager.

As such, he looks set to play a key role for Tottenham next season, but before all that, he’s got a World Cup campaign to focus on this summer.

How did Kevin Danso play for Austria vs Tunisia?

Danso was backed to step up for Tottenham after Cristian Romero’s season-ending injury, and that’s precisely what he did.

So, with a strong end to last season carrying him into the summer, the centre-back looks in great shape to enjoy a good World Cup with his Austria side.

Before Ralf Rangnick’s men head to North America for the tournament, they had one more friendly match to play against Tunisia in Wien on Monday night.

Danso was named on the bench for the game, which Austria were able to win 1-0 thanks to a second-half goal from Borussia Dortmund’s Marcel Sabitzer.

However, Rangnick brought the Spurs defender on at half-time, but he put in a real mixed bag of a performance that may not have aided his chances of winning a starting role at the World Cup.

As per FotMob, Danso completed 91 per cent of his pass attempts successfully, whilst also playing one pass into the final third and making four clearances respectively.

On the flip side, he also committed two fouls, one of which he received a yellow card for, won none of his two ground duels, made zero tackles and was inaccurate with both of his two long ball attempts respectively.

2026-27 will be crossroads Tottenham campaign for Danso

If there’s one department of Tottenham’s team that really looks set to be shaken up this summer, it’s probably the centre-back room.

Cristian Romero, Radu Dragusin, Ben Davies and maybe even Micky van de Ven could all depart N17 over the coming weeks, leaving De Zerbi’s senior and proven options in this area potentially extremely thin.

In that event, Danso could be left as Tottenham’s most experienced central defender, whilst also offering him the chance to really grasp a cemented starting role in North London moving forward.

Danso could return from the World Cup to find himself a lot lonelier in the Spurs defence, but that wouldn’t be no bad thing for him, in what is looking more and more like a 2026-27 season that will really see him evolve into a key starter for the Lilywhites.

Should he fail to take that opportunity, however, then his future at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium may come into question this time next year.