Roberto De Zerbi's Bold Transfer Strategy at Tottenham
Roberto De Zerbi does not bother with subtlety. Not in his football, and certainly not in the transfer market.
“In the transfer market when I want one player I become like a shark, no chance to say no!” he told Football London, and it did not sound like a throwaway line. It sounded like a warning.
Tottenham’s summer has already been expensive and explosive, yet De Zerbi insists this is only the beginning. The Italian estimates that Spurs are “60 per cent” of the way through their recruitment project. The rest? He calls it “another bomba”.
That next big hit is widely expected to be Savinho. The Brazilian, contracted to Manchester City, is understood to be pushing for the move to north London, a deal that would add yet another high-end attacker to a front line already reshaped by the £85m signing of Mateus Fernandes. De Zerbi is not simply hoarding forwards; he is hunting for very specific profiles.
Built from the full-backs out
Listen to him talk and the tactical blueprint is obvious. At Tottenham, the wingers will live or die by the full-backs.
“A winger can be a very wide winger, one able to come inside, a winger without a full-back, a winger able to play with the full-back,” he explained, laying out the menu of roles he demands in wide areas.
Then came the striking claim: “We have four great full-backs at the moment, maybe the four most important full-backs in the world, because I think Pedro Porro is the best right-back in the world, with [Destiny] Udogie, [Andy] Robertson, and Djed Spence can play right and left.”
That is the foundation. Everything else must fit around it.
“Before bringing in a winger, we have to consider the full-back, because we start from the full-back, from the player we already have, no?” he said. The message is clear: recruitment is not about names, it is about pieces in a system. Any winger walking through the door will be judged first on how he meshes with those full-backs.
Asked whether the next deal is close, De Zerbi did not hide his intent. “I hope, but it’s not finished for sure.” The shark is still circling.
Respecting Romero’s wish to leave
While De Zerbi sharpens Spurs’ attack, one of his most important defenders is edging towards the exit.
Cristian Romero, the club captain and a 2026 World Cup finalist, wants a return to Serie A. Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio has already gone public on talks over bringing the centre-back to San Siro, and De Zerbi has no desire to chain a restless player to the project.
“Romero as a player is one of the best centre-backs in the world, but at the end I said I want to respect the will of the players,” he explained.
The Italian revealed he had laid the ground rules back in April, in one-on-one meetings as Tottenham fought to stay afloat.
“I said: ‘Help me to stay up, and then I help you to leave’. If you don’t help me to stay up, you stay underwater with me!” he recalled.
Romero, he insists, kept his side of the bargain. “But Romero with me was unbelievable. Top. In his behaviour, his respect, he suffered when he did not play the last game. It is not true that he wanted to leave for Argentina to prepare for their World Cup. It’s not true.”
So if Romero goes, it will be with De Zerbi’s blessing – and with the sense that a promise, on both sides, has been honoured.
Harsh lessons, hard rules
The ruthlessness is not reserved for stars on big contracts. It runs through the squad, right down to the younger names trying to break through.
Lucas Bergvall and Djed Spence are both attracting interest as Tottenham reshape the dressing room. De Zerbi would like to keep them, but only on his terms.
“If they stay, they have to stay following my rules, decisions on the pitch,” he said, a pointed warning to those on the fringes.
Then came the sting, rooted in the scars of last season.
“After two games, three games, if one player is not playing and he starts to be sad or not correct with the other players, the coaches, staff, the club, we would make a big, big mistake because we didn’t learn from the past season.”
No sulking. No quiet revolts. No passengers. De Zerbi wants a squad that fights for minutes, not one that fractures when the team sheet goes up.
For now, his new-look Tottenham continue to take shape on the training pitch, the transfer market still crackling in the background. Chelsea await on Saturday in pre-season, a first glimpse of a side being rebuilt by a manager who promises “bombas” and prowls the market like a shark.
The real question is not whether De Zerbi will get the players he wants. It is what this Tottenham will look like once he finally decides the hunt is over.
