Roberto De Zerbi's Tough Love for Tottenham Squad
Roberto De Zerbi has never been shy about drawing lines. In New Zealand, thousands of miles from north London, he drew another one straight through the heart of his Tottenham squad.
“If you don’t want to stay in Tottenham, if you’re not happy, if you’re not proud to stay here, you have to leave,” the Italian declared before Spurs’ pre-season friendly against Auckland FC. No sugar-coating. No ambiguity. Stay and fight, or step aside.
At the centre of that message sits Lucas Bergvall.
Bergvall in the spotlight
Nottingham Forest have already tested Tottenham’s resolve with a £38m bid for the Sweden midfielder and are preparing to come back with £45m. Spurs said no to the first offer. The second will ask a different question: how much is potential worth in a squad that has just been aggressively rebuilt?
Bergvall arrived from Djurgarden in 2024 with the usual tags – “big talent”, “one for the future” – and he did get an early audition. De Zerbi handed the 20-year-old a start in his very first game in charge, a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland. Then the minutes dried up. Four substitute appearances followed, nothing more.
Now the midfield landscape has changed completely.
Tottenham have thrown huge money at the centre of the pitch: Sandro Tonali for £100m from Newcastle United, Mateus Fernandes for £85m from West Ham. Two heavyweight arrivals, two direct competitors for Bergvall’s place, and a clear signal about where De Zerbi believes the team needed upgrading.
“There will be a big competition to play because at the end, I think we will be two players for each position,” De Zerbi said. The message underneath was obvious: nobody plays on reputation, and nobody is guaranteed anything.
He has not yet sat down with Bergvall. That conversation is coming “in the next days”, and it will go a long way to deciding whether the Swede fights for his spot or becomes a very expensive asset on the move.
“If he wants to stay, I will be happy,” De Zerbi said. “Otherwise, we have to find a new solution with Johan Lange, with Vinai Venkatesham. It’s not my business after the decision to leave.”
The choice, then, lies with the player. Stay and embrace the fight. Or walk through a door Forest are trying hard to open.
A squad rebuilt, but not finished
Bergvall’s dilemma is sharpened by the scale of Tottenham’s overhaul. The midfield is not the only department that has been reinforced.
At the back, Jan Paul van Hecke, Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi have arrived to give De Zerbi fresh options and a very different defensive profile. Tottenham, who flirted with relegation last season before the Italian steadied them, are not just patching holes. They are reshaping the squad in his image.
And he is not done.
“First of all, I think it’s not finished yet, our transfer market window,” he said. “We have to finish, we have to bring another couple of, maybe more, maybe not less, but a couple of players.”
The priority now is clear: attacking reinforcements. Spurs want more firepower, more depth, more variety. De Zerbi has spoken repeatedly about motivation being the decisive edge at the highest level – from the Premier League to the World Cup – and he wants forwards who burn with that same intensity.
“The motivation is to be happy to stay in one team,” he said. For him, it is not a slogan. It is a selection policy.
Kudus close, Kulusevski cautious
The tour of New Zealand has not brought a full-strength squad. Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski stayed behind in London, both still working their way back from long-term injuries.
Kudus, though, is almost there.
“Kudus is very close. I think when we come back to London he will be available to start working with us,” De Zerbi confirmed. “It’s a great thing for us. Kudus is another important player.”
Kulusevski is a more delicate case. The winger has gone through a full season without a single appearance, a brutal lay-off that demands caution rather than emotion.
“We have to see in the next couple of weeks,” De Zerbi said. “After one season, one complete season, without a game, we have to analyse better and better, don’t take risks, first of all for him and then for us.”
For a coach who demands high intensity and relentless pressing, the return of those two wide players could transform the way Spurs attack. But they will not be rushed back just to satisfy the calendar.
Xavi Simons and the pain of the game
If anyone at Tottenham understands the cost of rushing, it is Xavi Simons.
The attacking midfielder is still processing the anterior cruciate ligament injury that wrecked his spring, cost him the end of his club season and denied him a place at the 2026 World Cup with the Netherlands. He did not try to dress it up.
“The first four days were the worst days of my life,” he told the club’s website.
He could not sleep. He did not eat for a week. The pain was so intense he vomited and felt dizzy. His whole body, he said, seemed to be asking, “what happened?”
It is the other side of elite football – the part that never makes the highlight reels but shapes careers just as much as any goal or assist. Simons has come through the darkest spell and now speaks of being “happy and in a good place”. For Tottenham, that is not just a medical update. It is a psychological boost in a dressing room that has been through its share of turbulence.
A clear standard, a hard choice
De Zerbi has framed this summer in simple terms. Pride. Happiness. Motivation. You either feel them at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, or you look for them somewhere else.
For Bergvall, the decision looms. Stay, accept the fight against Tonali, Fernandes and a deepening squad, and try to grow into the player Spurs believed they were signing. Or take the Forest route and bet on minutes over the long game.
Tottenham’s manager has made one thing certain: the club will move on with or without him. The only question now is who chooses to move with it.
