Today, The Athletic posted an article that was mostly about major Premier League clubs planning a preseason trip to the United States this coming summer. Tottenham Hotspur is not one of those clubs, unfortunately. But buried two-thirds down the article is a short snippet that says Spurs are very likely to head out on another preseason international tour this summer, and it looks like they’re heading back to Asia.
Again.
The Premier League have also considered interchanging the series between the U.S. and Asia, which remains a possibility for this summer, but it would likely to be a smaller tournament than last season’s six-team edition, while Tottenham are likely to be the biggest name club touring Asia. Yet Spurs have made clear to the Premier League they will not be participating in a summer series even if it does take place there.
— The Athletic
If correct, this will be the fourth straight preseason tour to the Asian continent. Spurs toured to Australia, Thailand, and Singapore last summer; to South Korea in 2022; and to Singapore and China in 2019. Tottenham did not travel internationally during the 2021 and 2020 preseasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There aren’t any indications as to where Spurs will travel in Asia, but this is generally the time when we start to hear murmurs of such things.
Now look, I understand the Asian market is massive and that Spurs have deep financial and sponsorship ties to Asia. I also understand that there are Tottenham Hotspur fans all over the globe that rarely get the chance to travel to London to see them play live, and coming to their region is very exciting for them. That said, it’s been a decade since Spurs came to Chicago, I’m extremely biased, and also greedy. I’d love them to come to within driving distance of my home so I can see them play meaningless matches with youth players 7500 miles from their home ground because it would be pleasing to me personally.
But also… Asia again? It’d be kinda cool to see Spurs in, IDK, South America? Maybe Africa? Lots of places in the world for them to travel and that’s the fun part of preseason tours. We’ll have to wait for confirmation, but at this point another Asian tour feels just sort of… blasé.