Tottenham's Transformation: From Tears to Triumph Under De Zerbi
There was a moment last season when Roberto de Zerbi stared around the away dressing room at the Stadium of Light and wondered aloud: “Did we pass away?”
Tottenham’s players lay on the floor, some in tears, after a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland in his first game in charge. Seven matches to save a season. Seven matches to stop a club of Tottenham’s stature sliding out of the Premier League. Survival came on the final day. Barely.
Four months later, the scene could not be more different.
From tears in Sunderland to coffees in Sydney
In Sydney, on a private floor of the team hotel a short walk from the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, the mood is transformed. Laughter spills out of the players’ room. A club-employed barista pulls espressos. Competitive table tennis games break out between training sessions. The atmosphere feels more like a club on the rise than one that only just escaped disaster.
Around £237m worth of new signings mix into the group, a record outlay for Tottenham and a clear declaration of intent. Sandro Tonali, the new headline act at £100m from Newcastle. Mateus Fernandes, prised from West Ham for £85m. Jan Paul van Hecke, Andrew Robertson and Martin Dubravka all pulling on Spurs colours during the pre-season tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Only Marcos Senesi, fresh from Argentina’s World Cup final exploits, missed the trip, granted extended leave before beginning work at Hotspur Way. The rest are already being folded into De Zerbi’s demanding, high-tempo vision.
“I deserve to want the top players, because now Tottenham deserves to build up a top team,” De Zerbi says, with the conviction of a man who has seen the worst and decided it will not happen again.
Two futures on the table
Spurs went into the summer with two meticulously drawn-up transfer plans: one for relegation, one for survival. The club came perilously close to finding out how the former looked in practice.
De Zerbi insists he would have stayed even in the Championship, but he now operates firmly in Plan A territory. That means spending big, acting fast and – crucially – respecting the wishes of players who may still depart, including captain Cristian Romero and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
“At the beginning of my time in April I had one million individual meetings,” he jokes. The message in those talks was blunt. If players wanted out, they could have it – on one condition.
“They told me if they didn't want to be here. I said: ‘Yes, 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’.”
The threat was delivered with a smile, but the line captured the reality. Tottenham were sinking. Those who stayed on board had to row.
A new regime, a new edge
The club above him has changed just as radically. Vinai Venkatesham, the new chief executive, now leads on behalf of the Lewis Family Trust. Johan Lange, the technical director and lone survivor of the previous hierarchy, works alongside him on recruitment.
Rafi Moersen, director of football operations, and performance director Dan Lewindon have arrived from City Football Group, bringing with them a data-heavy, process-driven approach. Lewindon’s brief is clear: fix Spurs’ chronic injury problems.
De Zerbi, though, does not stand back and wait for reports. He inserts himself into every area, but nowhere more so than the transfer market.
“In the transfer market, when I want one player, I become like a shark,” he says. “No chance to say no.”
That relentless pursuit has already delivered. Fernandes and Tonali for a combined £185m. Van Hecke wrestled away despite interest from Chelsea. Manchester United and Manchester City beaten to the punch for the two record-breaking midfielders.
“I love working in the transfer market. It's not a pressure, it's one of the nicest parts in my work,” he explains. The appeal, he says, lies in responsibility and connection.
“When you take the decision, you take the responsibility. If the coach calls the player, you can build a special connection at the beginning. With Mateus Fernandes, I spoke with the mum, with the father.”
He even promised Fernandes’ father that he would act as a “second dad” in England. For a 20-year-old crossing leagues and cultures, that matters.
Texts, tactics and a “bomba” to come
De Zerbi does not just scout players. He hunts them.
After a 2-2 draw with Brighton in April, when Georginio Rutter’s 95th-minute equaliser rocked Spurs’ survival bid, Van Hecke’s assist stuck in his mind. The next move was pure De Zerbi.
“You wanted to push down Tottenham for Brighton when you made the assist to Rutter, now you have to come to me, you have no choice,” he messaged the defender.
For Tonali, the charm offensive began the day after Spurs beat Everton to stay up. De Zerbi sent a text, then flew to Brescia for a face-to-face meeting that proved decisive. Club staff thrashed out the numbers later. The emotional sale was already done.
Now he hints at one more attacking “bomba” – his word – with moves lined up for two forwards, including Manchester City’s Savinho. The rebuild is not finished. The frontline, he knows, still needs teeth.
Big spending, tight grip
The scale of Tottenham’s investment invites scrutiny, but De Zerbi rejects the idea that the club are throwing money around without restraint. The Lewis family injected £100m in June, yet he insists he feels “no pressure” from above, pointing instead to the heavy recent spending at Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
There have been exits too. Luka Vuskovic’s £45m move to Brighton brought in a substantial fee. The futures of Lucas Bergvall and Djed Spence remain uncertain, with decisions still to come.
“We assessed the request of Vuskovic [to join Brighton], with Vinai, with Johan together, because I consider Tottenham's money my money,” De Zerbi says. “It's like the owner is my father, I think you don't want to ask your father to lose money.”
That mindset has already shaped deals not done. Tottenham walked away from a permanent move for Joao Palhinha from Bayern Munich, not because De Zerbi doubted the player’s quality, but because the overall financial package did not fit their model.
“Like all the big clubs, we have to sell a player at as big of a price as possible and we have to bring a player with a small price,” he explains. The club, he says, are working to a five-year plan. This is not a one-window gamble. It is a rebuild.
Cleaning the air after Sunderland
The damage from last season ran deeper than results. After that opening defeat at Sunderland, the gloom seeped into the training ground. Staff walked the corridors with shoulders slumped.
“The day after I organised a meeting without players and I said, ‘The first one I see say something negative, I send you home immediately’,” De Zerbi recalls. Negativity, he decided, would be driven out by force if necessary.
The scars from back-to-back 17th-place finishes remain. Under Ange Postecoglou, Spurs at least had a Europa League triumph to cling to. Under De Zerbi, they stared at the trapdoor.
Now the Italian talks about changing “behaviour, attitude and spirit” as much as formations and pressing triggers. Healing, he knows, does not happen on a tactics board.
He took his players out in Mayfair for “one big dinner… with alcohol”. It was deliberate. A release valve. A reminder that they were not as broken as they felt.
“I think they considered themselves in that moment worse than the people thought,” he admits. He still believes they could have secured survival earlier with a touch more luck in the run-in.
The next step is for the group to take ownership of that togetherness. “I hope next time they organise [dinner and drinks] for themselves,” he says.
Because for all the talk of sharks in the transfer market and five-year plans in the boardroom, De Zerbi keeps circling back to the same idea.
“With love, friendship and care, you become top, top, top.”
Tottenham have already lived their near-death experience. The question now is whether this version, rebuilt, scarred and newly ambitious, can finally live like a club that expects more than survival.
