Roberto De Zerbi names new Tottenham captain after Cristian Romero’s exit – and reveals four understudies

ROBERTO DE ZERBI has revealed Micky van de Ven will be Tottenham’s new captain. But the Spurs chief has ruled the Dutchman out of Saturday’s season-opener at Brentford due to injury. Roberto De Zerbi has overseen a big squad overhaul this summer at Spurs Credit: Alamy Live News. Micky van de Ven has been named Spurs new captain Credit: Shutterstock De Zerbi has handed the armband to Van de Ven, who signed a new five-year deal this summer, following the sale of Cristian Romero to Atletico Madrid. The Spurs chief said: “The new captain is Micky van de Ven. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! Play Dream Team this season! £100,000 in prize money up for grabs in 2026/27 Free to enter Play in Mini Leagues against your mates £60,000 jackpot for the overall winner £1,000 prize for winning Gameweek 1 PLAY DREAM TEAM NOW! “The second Pedro Porro. The third Ben Davies. The fourth James Maddison. The fifth Archie Gray. “Why five? Because I want many captains in the pitch. Every one of them deserve to be captains.” Pape Matar Sarr, who is of interest to Galatasaray, is also out due to injury. De Zerbi then ruled out Van de Ven and Porro – who has only recently returned after winning the World Cup win Spain – of the trip to the Gtech due to fitness issues. But James Maddison and Dominic Solanke will be in the squad for the visit to West London. The Italian added: “Micky is not on the list tomorrow, like Pedro Porro. James Maddison, Dominic Solanke, Destiny Udogie, Mateus Fernandes is inside (the list to play). Pape Sarr, no he felt his hamstring.” Most read in Sport “Today (Micky) is working with the group. He’s going very well. He suffered a problem in Australia. But we have (Marcos) Senesi, we have Ben Davies (for Brentford).” De Zerbi would not be drawn on the pursuit of Savinho, who is set to arrive for £75million – plus another £10m in add-ons – from Manchester City. But he revealed Spurs were not done yet with their summer spending, despite a huge squad overhaul so far. It has seen the likes of Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes and Jan Paul van Hecke to arrive for £237m. De Zerbi added: “It’s not right to speak about the players until they are official. “I am very happy, we are not finished in the transfer market. We had great signings, great behaviour, great spirit, great personality. “But in the Premier League you don’t win games with the names. We have to deserve to win the game.” Comment now