Roberto De Zerbi on Tottenham's Ambitious Summer Overhaul
Roberto De Zerbi insists Tottenham’s eye‑watering summer overhaul is not about him – it’s about the people paying for it.
Spurs have smashed through the £300million barrier in this window, ripping up and rebuilding a squad that flirted dangerously with relegation only a few months ago. The latest statement of intent arrived this week with the captures of Manchester City pair Omar Marmoush and Savio, two more big-ticket arrivals in a window that has already reshaped the dressing room.
De Zerbi has been central to that transformation on the pitch and in the meeting room. His football has attracted the likes of Mateus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali and Jan Paul van Hecke to north London at a time when many would have seen Spurs as a risk rather than a springboard.
Yet when the Italian was asked how much of this aggressive recruitment drive is down to him, he immediately shifted the spotlight upstairs.
“No, (what) makes the difference (is the) behaviour and ambition of the owner,” De Zerbi said.
“Because these players are not here for me or because I need them.
“I am an employee of the club, I’m not the owner. But the ambition of the owner made the difference, for sure, because the owner pushed to close (deals for) the players.
“The owners’ ambition is so big, right through transfers, for every one of us, the players, the board, the staff, with myself. The motivation to do better.”
That ambition belongs to the Lewis Family, who have underwritten this summer’s spree and, in De Zerbi’s eyes, turned a survival story into something far more ambitious. Eight signings are already through the door, yet Spurs are still moving.
One more push in the market
De Zerbi met members of the Lewis Family on Thursday night, joined by CEO Vinai Venkatesham, sporting director Johan Lange and his translator Enrico Venturelli, to map out the final week of the window over dinner.
“I think we can do one player more and in one specific position,” he said.
The conversation was not a summit crisis, but a fine-tuning session. Targets, priorities, the final piece.
“We spoke about this, but we have all of us on the same page and there is a very good connection,” De Zerbi added.
Spurs are understood to be weighing up another winger or a backup right-back to push Pedro Porro, a final reinforcement to round off a summer that has already redrawn the club’s horizons.
The money has been spent. The ambition has been declared. Now the question is simple: can De Zerbi and this new-look squad live up to the owners’ vision?
