Jan Paul van Hecke has revealed details of his hectic summer schedule which will fuel the theory that a pre-season tour Down Under seriously damaged Tottenham’s preparations for the new Premier League season.Van Hecke had a break of less than three weeks between defeat in the last 32 of the World Cup with the Netherlands in North America and taking off on the flight to New Zealand and Australia.The Spurs centre-half, signed for £54million from Brighton, was eager to start on the latest chapter of his career, working again with Roberto De Zerbi.Like all elite modern footballers, he appreciates the commercial and emotional value of connecting with the club’s global fanbase, but he admits the travel has had a draining physical impact.’Everyone knows it’s the other side of the world,’ said Van Hecke. ‘To go there and see all the people, you see they love football, they love Tottenham, that also gives you a really good feeling.’But for physical-wise, of course, it impacts your body. I also struggled for one or two weeks after and that’s not ideal.’ Jan Paul van Hecke has suggested that Tottenham’s pre-season trip to New Zealand and Australia has led to their injuries Van Hecke played in every minute of the four Netherlands games in the World Cup, which ended in defeat after extra time and penalties against Morocco on June 30 in Mexico.By July 24, he was landing in New Zealand with Spurs for a friendly in Auckland and two friendlies in Australia. Van Hecke’s first appearance came in the final game of the tour against Chelsea in Sydney.’I only had, like, two weeks, two-and-a-half weeks, it was a really short break, to be honest,’ said Van Hecke. ‘My first days were in New Zealand and Australia on the trip. But that’s what you want. You want to play football, especially in a new club. I didn’t want to miss anything in pre-season.’New Spurs captain Micky van de Ven, on an identical schedule, did not play in pre-season after picking up an injury during the tour.’He suffered a problem during the pre-season in Australia,’ said De Zerbi last week. ‘I don’t know, the flight, I don’t know, something, not a big problem, but not right to work.’Van de Ven returned as a second-half substitute as Spurs beat Charlton 5-1 in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday.Others, including £85m signing Mateus Fernandes, James Maddison, Dominic Solanke, Kevin Danso and Destiny Udogie suffered minor pre-season injuries which limited their fitness work.Maddison, who missed most of last season with a cruciate knee ligament injury, then damaged a shoulder when he came on as a sub during the 3-0 defeat at Brentford on the opening day of the Premier League season and will be out for a couple of weeks more. Micky van de Ven did not play in pre-season after picking up an injury on tour, but returned as Spurs thrashed Charlton 5-1 on Tuesday night After the sobering Brentford defeat, De Zerbi said Van Hecke, Marcos Senesi and new £100m midfielder Sandro Tonali had for different reasons not been in the right physical condition.Senesi played for Argentina in the World Cup final on July 19 and was not on the Spurs tour. Nor were Pedro Porro, who also played in the final, or Rodrigo Bentancur who was granted extended summer leave.’At the beginning of Australia we played every three days,’ said De Zerbi when asked why Tonali, who was neither at the World Cup nor injured, was behind the curve on fitness. ‘The trip was 25/26 hours and the day after we couldn’t work in the right condition.’When we came here [back to London], we couldn’t work immediately because there was a friendly game against Getafe. In the last two weeks, the players from the World Cup came and we worked in different situations, but I think he needs more time like JP.’Tonali and Senesi were spared the Carabao Cup tie against Charlton to spend Tuesday working on an intense physical session. De Zerbi confirmed Tonali will start against Newcastle on Saturday.