Tottenham's Ambitious Summer Rebuild: De Zerbi's Perspective

Roberto De Zerbi insists Tottenham’s lavish summer rebuild is not about him – it is about the people signing the cheques.

Spurs have surged past the £300million mark in transfer spending, ripping up and reworking a squad that only just escaped relegation last season. The latest statement arrived this week: the double capture of Manchester City pair Omar Marmoush and Savio, another show of intent from a club suddenly acting like a heavyweight.

De Zerbi has been widely praised for persuading players such as Mateus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali and Jan Paul van Hecke to buy into a project that, not long ago, looked fragile. Yet when the Italian was asked how central he had been to Tottenham’s aggressive push in the market, he swerved the spotlight.

For him, the story starts higher up.

“No, (what) makes the difference (is the) behaviour and ambition of the owner,” De Zerbi said, making it clear where the credit should land.

“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 belongs to the Lewis Family, who have bankrolled a recruitment drive more in line with a title challenger than a side that flirted with the drop. Eight new faces are already through the door, yet the manager is clear: the work is not finished.

The planning is as intense off the pitch as the football De Zerbi demands on it. On Thursday night, he sat down for dinner with members of the Lewis Family, CEO Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange, joined by his translator Enrico Venturelli. The menu was transfers, the tone aligned.

“I think we can do one player more and in one specific position,” De Zerbi 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.”

The final week of the window will test that alignment. Spurs are understood to be open to adding either another winger or a backup right-back to push Pedro Porro and deepen De Zerbi’s options.

One more signing, one more push. Tottenham’s owners have set the pace. Now the squad they have built has to live up to it.