Roberto De Zerbi's Stance on Lucas Bergvall's Future

Roberto De Zerbi wants Lucas Bergvall to stay. He just refuses to lie to him about what that would look like.

The Tottenham Hotspur head coach has made his stance clear, according to The Athletic: he sees Bergvall as a potentially elite midfielder and would like him in his squad this season, but he will not promise the 20-year-old a place in the starting XI. Not now. Not to anyone.

Bergvall told the club in June that he wanted a new challenge, a declaration that immediately drew interest from Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest. The timing was striking. Spurs had just doubled down on their midfield rebuild, smashing their transfer record twice with the arrivals of Matheus Fernandes for £85 million and Sandro Tonali for £100 million. Opportunity for a young midfielder suddenly looked far more complicated.

Yet De Zerbi has not cooled on him. After a recent pre-season outing against Sydney FC, the Italian was effusive about Bergvall’s ceiling, calling him “potentially a top, top, top player” and making it plain he would like him to remain in north London. Then came the caveat: he will not beg anyone to stay.

The numbers from last season hint at why this is such a delicate call for the player. Bergvall featured 33 times in all competitions, clocking 1,465 minutes and scoring once. Enough involvement to feel part of the project, not enough to feel indispensable. For a midfielder who believes his future lies as part of a double pivot, regular starts now feel non-negotiable.

De Zerbi understands the demand, even shares it in theory, but refuses to bend in practice. “It’s very clear, his idea. He wants space. He wants to play as a double pivot as a position. I can’t give, for any player in the world, the place in the first XI guaranteed,” he said. That line is not just about Bergvall; it is a manifesto for a dressing room suddenly stacked with big fees and bigger ambitions.

The dynamic is complicated further by communication. Bergvall has not recently sat down face to face with De Zerbi to restate his desire to leave, though there have been conversations. The head coach has responded by drawing a firm line on what it takes to wear the shirt: attitude first, talent second.

“To stay with us, we have to have the right spirit to stay. He’s a good guy. We will see in the next weeks,” De Zerbi said, leaving the next move with the player and the club’s power brokers. Any long-term decision, he added, will have to run through chief executive Vinai Venkatesham or sporting director Johan Lange.

While Spurs grind through an intense pre-season and De Zerbi shapes a side around his new heavyweight midfield signings, Bergvall stands at a crossroads: fight for minutes in one of the most competitive engines in the league, or walk away from a manager who believes he can be “top, top, top” but refuses to hand him the shirt.