Tottenham Hotspur's Destiny Udogie 'passed fit for Aston Villa clash'

The left-back pulled out of the Italy squad that sealed their qualification for Euro 2024 over the past week, after struggling with a hamstring issue.

The 20-year-old missed Spurs' win at Crystal Palace through injury, and was then sent off on his return against Chelsea in their bizarre 4-1 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

While serving the suspension for the loss at Molineux against Wolverhampton Wanderers, eyebrows were raised at Udogie omission from Luciano Spalletti's Italy squad.

The Italy boss came out and revealed soon after that the Spurs man had pulled out with injury, as he was also not a part of the Under-21 squad which he has featured for this year.

However, speaking ahead of the visit of Aston Villa on Sunday, Postecoglou has revealed Udogie is fit to return to the side.

"Destiny is fine. He is available, he's had a good couple of weeks." Postecoglou said in his press conference on Friday afternoon.

Udogie has made 10 Premier League appearances in his debut season at Spurs, helping them to their current position of fourth, registering two assists along the way so far.

With Italy's place at next summer's finals secured, Udogie will now look to play his way into Spalletti's plans ahead of their ascent on Germany.

The Azzurri has plenty of competition in the position though, with Inter Milan's Federico Dimarco the likely first-choice, and Cristiano Biraghi and Leonardo Spinazzola also candidates to feature, so Udogie will have maintain high levels of performance if he is to be in with a chance of starting at the tournament.

Elsewhere on the injury front for Spurs, while the return of Udogie is a big boost, they will still be without a number of first-team regulars.

James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Richarlison are all set to miss the rest of 2023, while Yves Bissouma and Cristian Romero are suspended for Sunday's fixture.

Midfielder Pape Matar Sarr is also doubtful after returning from Senegal duty with a minor issue, meaning Oliver Skipp and Giovani Lo Celso could come in to partner Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the middle.

Long-term absentees Ivan Perisic, Ryan Sessegnon and Manor Solomon all remain sidelined for Postecoglou's side at present too.