De Zerbi vows to lift Tottenham during Sydney pre-season after troubled 2025-26 finish
Roberto de Zerbi says he intends to rebuild Tottenham’s fortunes while leading the squad on their pre-season tour in Sydney, four months after taking charge for seven matches at the end of the 2025-26 season. He inherits a side that secured Premier League survival on the final day after a run in which he won three, drew two and lost two of those seven games.
De Zerbi recalled the low point of his first match in charge, a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland that left players “lying on their backs, some crying” in the dressing room, and says the mood has since changed during the club’s tour. At the team hotel in Sydney — close to the Harbour Bridge and Opera House — players have taken part in table tennis matches, and staff operate a private-floor barista, while a club-record £237m of new signings integrate into the squad. The overhaul follows a turbulent campaign that forced Spurs into a late survival fight and extensive summer recruitment.
New arrivals on tour include club-record signing Sandro Tonali plus Mateus Fernandes, Jan Paul van Hecke, Andrew Robertson and Martin Dubravka, with Marcos Senesi granted extended leave after featuring for Argentina in the World Cup final and now back in training at Hotspur Way. De Zerbi said: "I deserve to want the top players, because now Tottenham deserves to build up a top team." He described the atmosphere in Sydney as markedly different from the despair he encountered in April.
The club prepared two transfer plans depending on relegation or survival and De Zerbi says he would have stayed on even had Spurs gone down, while now working from the preferred Plan A and “respecting the will” of players such as captain Cristian Romero and Guglielmo Vicario, who could still depart. "At the beginning of my time in April I had one million individual meetings," he joked. "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 club’s executive structure has been reshaped during the summer, with Vinai Venkatesham leading on behalf of the Lewis Family Trust and Johan Lange remaining as technical director, while director of football operations Rafi Moersen and performance director Dan Lewindon arrived from City Football Group; Lewindon is tasked with improving Spurs' injury record. De Zerbi says he is personally involved across recruitment and adopts an aggressive approach in the market: "in the transfer market, when I want one player, I become like a shark. No chance to say no." He added: "I love working in the transfer market. It's not a pressure, it's one of the nicest parts in my work, in my job," and recalled speaking personally with Mateus Fernandes’ parents: "With Mateus Fernandes, I spoke with the mum, with the father." De Zerbi told Fernandes' father that he would be his "second dad" and look after him in England.
Spurs paid record fees of £85m for Fernandes from West Ham and £100m for Tonali from Newcastle, and signed van Hecke despite reported interest from Chelsea, having already beaten Manchester United and Manchester City to two midfield targets. De Zerbi described direct recruitment tactics, recounting how after a 2-2 draw with Brighton in April he messaged Van Hecke: "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," De Zerbi revealed. He said he texted Tonali the day after Spurs secured survival with a final-day win over Everton and then met him at his home in Brescia, and that he is now teasing a final attacking "bomba", with moves for two forwards expected, including one for Manchester City's Savinho.
On finances and departures, De Zerbi rejected the notion Spurs are spending irresponsibly, saying he is under "no pressure" despite the Lewis family injecting £100m into the club in June because it was desperately needed and comparing the approach to Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. The club also received a substantial fee for Luka Vuskovic's £45m transfer to Brighton, while doubts remain over the futures of Lucas Bergvall and Djed Spence. "We assessed the request of Vuskovic [to join Brighton], with Vinai, with Johan together, because I consider Tottenham's money my money," De Zerbi said. "It's like the owner is my father, I think you don't want to ask your father to lose money. 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, we are starting for a plan of five seasons because we are building." He also cited a decision not to sign Joao Palhinha permanently because the overall financial package was not suitable.
De Zerbi says he has worked to change behaviour and morale since the end of the season, recalling a staff meeting after Sunderland where he warned: "The first one I see say something negative, I send you home immediately." He arranged "one big dinner in Mayfair, with alcohol" for players, added that "they considered themselves in that moment worse than the people thought," and urged recovery through unity: "I hope next time they organise [dinner and drinks] for themselves. With love, friendship and care, you become top, top, top." The manager frames those cultural changes and the summer recruitment as the opening moves in a five-season plan to rebuild the club.
