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With club football in most leagues finished for another season, the international game is about to dominate the agenda — the European Championship starts in Germany on Friday and an expanded version of the Copa America begins a week later in the United States.
Some of Tottenham Hotspur’s biggest stars, including James Maddison, Richarlison and Destiny Udogie, will miss out on representing their countries in those events for various reasons, but there are other interesting things to watch out for. These include a Tottenham old boy managing in his first international tournament and a couple of current Spurs players potentially going for back-to-back Copa America triumphs with Argentina, while Micky van de Ven might be about to make his mark at international level.
Here, The Athletic spotlights the stories for Spurs fans to keep an eye on as these competitions unfold before both crowning champions on July 14.
How to follow Euro 2024 and Copa America on The Athletic…
Can Romero and Lo Celso help Argentina retain the Copa America?
Cristian Romero started all four of Argentina’s knockout games at the 2022 World Cup as they lifted the trophy for the first time since 1986. The 26-year-old forms the backbone of their defence and is expected to line up alongside Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez or former Manchester City centre-back Nicolas Otamendi, now playing in Portugal for Benfica, this summer.
Argentina won the Copa America when it was last played three years ago in Brazil, as a 10-team competition, but Romero was limited to only three appearances due to injury. He will be hoping to play a much bigger role this time as Lionel Scaloni’s side attempt to retain their title in an expanded 16-team event, with the 10 South American (CONMEBOL) nations welcoming CONCACAF neighbours the United States (who will also host the Club World Cup next summer), Canada, Mexico (both co-hosting the men’s World Cup with the U.S. a year later), Jamaica, Costa Rica and Panama to their party.
The centre-back is expected to be joined in the squad by Tottenham colleague Giovani Lo Celso — he will find out today (Wednesday). Lo Celso missed the World Cup 18 months ago with a hamstring injury and only started four Premier League games last season among his 22 appearances, playing just 492 minutes, as he battled more fitness issues.
Argentina won the most recent Copa America in 2021 (Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images)
How will France cope without Lloris?
France have one of the strongest squads at Euro 2024 and will be expected to reach its latter stages. However, it will be interesting to see how they cope at a tournament without goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who retired from international football after their loss to Argentina on penalties in the 2022 World Cup final.
Aged 37 and playing for Los Angeles FC in MLS after his 11-year Spurs career ended in January, Lloris was France’s first-choice in goal for seven successive tournaments before this one. He is the country’s most-capped player (145) and was captain for over a decade, lifting the World Cup in 2018.
Lloris might not have been at his prime at that most recent World Cup or the previous Euros in 2021, but his leadership was crucial. Mike Maignan of AC Milan has the arduous task of replacing him in the team, while forward Kylian Mbappe is now captain.
The last time Lloris did not represent France at a tournament was Euro 2008. Mbappe was nine.
Vertonghen still playing for Belgium at 37
Euro 2024 will be the final tournament where there is still a sizeable core of Belgium’s golden generation in their squad. Romelu Lukaku (31 years old), Yannick Carrasco (30) and Kevin De Bruyne (32) are in Domenico Tedesco’s squad but Toby Alderweireld retired from international football last year, Eden Hazard quit the pro game altogether a few months later and Marouane Fellaini followed him in February.
Jan Vertonghen, who played for Spurs from 2012 to 2020, is almost four years older than Hazard and has spent the past two seasons with Brussels club Anderlecht in the domestic top flight. Nobody would blame Vertonghen, Belgium’s most capped player with 154, for taking a backseat but the 37-year-old remains central to their plans. A groin injury threatens to limit Vertonghen’s involvement but his longevity remains remarkable.
Belgium have never won a trophy and this will surely be Vertonghen’s last opportunity to change that.
Vertonghen playing for Anderlecht in April (Laurie Dieffembacq/Belga/AFP/Getty Images)
A chance to see Dragusin start a few more matches
There was a lot of excitement around Radu Dragusin after he moved to Spurs from Italy’s Genoa in January for around £25million ($31.8m at the current rate). Bayern Munich tried to hijack the deal at the last minute, fuelling the hype. The 22-year-old only started four games over the remainder of last season, though, so fans are still waiting for a proper glimpse of his ability.
Dragusin made his debut for Romania in March 2022 and has locked down a starting spot in the past 15 months. He will be key to their chances of qualifying from Group E, which also contains Belgium, Slovenia and Ukraine.
Performing well for Romania at this tournament should boost his confidence as he looks to challenge the first-choice centre-back partnership of Van de Ven and Romero next season.
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Van de Ven vs Mbappe
Next Friday (June 21) in Leipzig, we could be treated to one of football’s greatest individual battles. France are taking on the Netherlands in both nations’ middle game in Group D, which means Mbappe is set to come up against Van de Ven.
Mbappe, who just joined Real Madrid from Paris Saint-Germain, is one of the game’s quickest players but Tottenham’s Van de Ven might be the only centre-back capable of catching or even overtaking him. The 23-year-old Dutchman registered the quickest sprint in Premier League history, reaching 37.3 kilometres per hour (23.2mph) in January’s 3-2 victory against Brentford.
Van de Ven has only started once for the Netherlands in his four caps, in last week’s 4-0 friendly win against Canada, and that was at left-back, which suggests he will not be responsible for directly marking Mbappe, who tends to play out wide for France, but the prospect of them furiously chasing after a ball over the top is a fun one.
Has Vicario missed his chance to overhaul Donnarumma?
It was an impressive debut season for Guglielmo Vicario after joining Spurs from Italy’s Empoli last summer for £17.2million. The problem is, he has to compete with Gianluigi Donnarumma for a game at international level.
Vicario made his debut in a 2-0 friendly win against Ecuador in March and got a second cap in the 0-0 draw with Turkey last week. Donnarumma started all seven of Italy’s games at the previous Euros and only conceded four times outside penalty shootouts as they won the competition and he was named player of the tournament.
Head coach Luciano Spalletti announced last month that the now 25-year-old would captain Italy as they try to retain their title this summer. So unless Donnarumma picks up an injury, Vicario is going to be watching the Euros, not playing in them.
Vicario during an Italy training session, alongside Donnarumma (Claudio Villa/Getty Images)
Can Hojbjerg put himself in the shop window again?
Tottenham’s squad is evolving under head coach Ange Postecoglou and it has become apparent that Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is expendable. He played in all but two of the 38 Premier League matches last season but only started eight of them. Maddison, Pape Sarr, Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur are ahead of him in the midfield pecking order, and Spurs are interested in signing England midfielder Conor Gallagher from Chelsea.
Hojbjerg remains a senior figure for Denmark though, alongside Christian Eriksen, Simon Kjaer and Kasper Schmeichel. He started all six of their games at the Euros in 2021, where they got to the semi-finals before losing to England after extra time, contributing three assists. Another impressive performance at the tournament this summer will hopefully increase his value ahead of an expected transfer.
How will Maddison, Porro, Udogie and Richarlison spend their time off?
Richarlison was Brazil’s No 9 at the World Cup 18 months ago but a calf injury has ruled him out of this summer’s Copa America.
Maddison was named in Gareth Southgate’s provisional 33-man England squad for these Euros before losing out as that group was cut down to the final 26. He has never played for England at a senior tournament, despite making the squad for Qatar 2022. With him turning 28 this November, it feels like the next generation of English attacking midfielders has already overtaken him.
Destiny Udogie would have made a strong case to start at left-back for Italy this summer if fit but underwent season-ending thigh surgery in April, while Pedro Porro was unfortunate to miss out on Spain’s provisional squad after an encouraging season which saw him hit new heights under Postecoglou.
It is a shame for all four not to be involved with their countries in the coming weeks, but hopefully, that means they will return for pre-season with Tottenham fully fit and refreshed.
Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane returned to Germany with England this week (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
Can Harry Kane end his trophy drought — and do Spurs fans still care?
For the first time since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Tottenham will not be represented in the England squad at a major tournament. There are former Spurs players to look out for in Southgate’s 26, including Harry Kane and Kieran Trippier, while Gallagher will be exciting to watch ahead of a potential move across London from Stamford Bridge.
Kane came agonisingly close to becoming only the second England captain to lift a major trophy three years ago, while he was still at Tottenham, but Italy won that Euro 2020 final on penalties. He has broken records for fun on Germany’s pitches following his move to Bayern last August, so can he take that form into the Euros and help England go one better than in 2021?
Though will Spurs fans even care if he finally wins a trophy should he do it with three lions rather than a cockerel on his chest?
Rebrov the manager, Postecoglou’s analysis and Perisic’s comeback
Spurs’ Ivan Perisic, now 35, has made Croatia’s squad for these Euros despite suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in September that threatened to end his season. Loaned to Hajduk Split of his homeland in January, he made a comeback in April and has played in both his country’s warm-up friendlies.
Viewers in the United Kingdom will be treated to Postecoglou analysing the tournament as part of ITV’s punditry team, while former Tottenham striker Serhiy Rebrov is in his first tournament as Ukraine head coach.
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(Top photo: Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
