Tottenham’s Ambitious Summer Rebuild Driven by Boardroom Decisions
Roberto De Zerbi insists Tottenham’s lavish summer rebuild is being driven from the boardroom, not the dugout.
Spurs have crashed through the £300million barrier in this window as they rip up and remodel the squad, the latest statement arriving this week with the captures of Manchester City pair Omar Marmoush and Savio. Those deals add to an already eye-catching haul that includes Mateus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali and Jan Paul van Hecke, all persuaded to join a club that only just escaped relegation to the Championship last season.
Plenty have been quick to credit De Zerbi for that change in mood and magnetism. He has, after all, helped turn a survival story into a sales pitch for Europe in the space of a few months.
He is having none of it.
Asked how central he had been to Tottenham’s aggressive charge through the market, the Italian immediately shifted the spotlight upstairs, towards the Lewis family, who own the club and have funded this sudden surge.
“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 has already delivered eight new signings, yet Tottenham are still moving. The window’s final week will not be quiet in north London.
De Zerbi revealed he sat down for dinner on Thursday with members of the Lewis family, CEO Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange, with his translator Enrico Venturelli also present, to lock in plans for the final stretch of business.
“I think we can do one player more and in one specific position,” he said. “But yesterday we went for dinner with the owner, with Vinai, with Johan and with Enrico Venturelli. We spoke about this, but we have all of us on the same page and there is a very good connection.”
That “one more” looks likely to be in wide areas or at right-back. Spurs are understood to be open to bringing in another winger or a backup option on the right of defence to push Pedro Porro.
The spending has been bold, the intent even bolder. Now the question is simple: can Tottenham’s owners’ ambition turn this expensive overhaul into a team that matches their vision?
