Manor Solomon pulled on a Tottenham shirt again on Wednesday evening, starting as Roberto De Zerbi's side opened their summer schedule with a 1-0 friendly win over MK Dons at Hotspur Way, according to ONE.
The only goal arrived inside three minutes. Mathys Tel swung in a corner, MK Dons goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray could only punch it back into space, and new signing Mateus Fernandes met it with a first-time volley that cannoned in off the inside of the post — a debut strike to remember for the Portuguese midfielder, signed this summer from West Ham.
Solomon was handed a place in the front line alongside Fernandes, Tel and Dominic Solanke, with Conor Gallagher and Sandro Tonali — another summer arrival, making his own Spurs bow — anchoring midfield. The Israeli winger came closest to a second goal with a slick one-two with Gallagher, only for MacGillivray to block with his legs.
De Zerbi made ten changes at half-time, sending on a second-string XI featuring Martin Dubravka in goal and Richarlison up front, and the club's own account of the match credited MK Dons with forcing more corners and pushing hard for an equaliser late on before Spurs held their lead to the final whistle.
It was a behind-closed-doors run-out against a MK Dons side who go into the new campaign in League One after winning automatic promotion from League Two last season — not the fourth tier as this week's headlines in Israel suggested, but still a heavy step down from Premier League opposition and a useful early test of sharpness for Spurs.
For Solomon, the appearance is another small step in trying to re-establish himself at Tottenham after an unsettled two years away from north London. He spent the 2024-25 season on loan at Leeds United, scoring the goal that clinched the Championship title with a 2-1 win over Plymouth Argyle in May 2025, only to find playing time far harder to come by on a subsequent loan at Villarreal in La Liga.
Tottenham recalled him from Spain in January and sent him straight back out, this time to Fiorentina in Serie A, where he made 16 appearances before that loan ran its course at the end of the season. He is now back in De Zerbi's squad for pre-season with his long-term future still unresolved.
The Israian international's homecoming comes at a club trying to move on from a genuinely miserable campaign. Tottenham survived in the Premier League only on the final day of 2025-26, beating Everton to finish 17th, two points above West Ham, after a run that included six straight defeats and a 15-match winless streak in the league.
De Zerbi himself only arrived at the end of March, appointed on a five-year contract to replace Igor Tudor with Spurs sitting just a point above the relegation zone at the time. Wednesday's win over MK Dons was another building block as he assembles a squad for a season Tottenham fans will hope looks nothing like the last one — with a Premier League opener at Brentford now exactly a month away.
