Tottenham's Ambitious Double Move for Marmoush and Savinho

Tottenham are pushing hard on two fronts and the clock is already ticking.

With the summer window closing on 1 September, Spurs are working on an ambitious double move for Omar Marmoush and Savinho from Manchester City, a package that could climb to – or even clear – the £140 million mark.

This is Roberto De Zerbi’s first major swing in the market as Tottenham head coach. The targets are clear. The timing is not accidental.

City’s contrasting cases

Manchester City’s opening Premier League fixture against Bournemouth told its own story.

Savinho was nowhere to be seen. Not in the XI, not on the bench. Enzo Maresca revealed the winger had missed training three days earlier because he was “a little bit ill”, an interruption that broke a pre-season in which the former Brazil international had featured in every warm-up game.

Marmoush, by contrast, stayed in the matchday picture. He was among the substitutes, having come off the bench against Arsenal in the Community Shield the previous weekend. His situation, Maresca stressed, is not the same as Savinho’s.

“Omar is still here, still with us, it's a different situation to Savio and we see,” City’s new head coach said. “Savio, since day one, asked to leave, and Omar didn't ask to leave since day one, not yet.

“It's always complicated when someone leaves, and one has to arrive. We'll see if Omar stays or what happens.”

The message was blunt when it came to Savinho. He wants out. And he has from the start.

“It’s quite clear that when players want to leave for any reason, it is complicated to convince them to stay and to change,” Maresca continued. “It happened with Rodri, the same is happening with Savinho.

“Since day one, he has been clear that he wants to leave. Now we are waiting. It's complicated when players are clear they want a new challenge, or they want to go to Spain or play more minutes, it becomes complicated to convince them to stay.”

The door is not just ajar. It’s open. Tottenham are trying to walk through it.

De Zerbi keeps his cards close

On the other side of this tug-of-war, De Zerbi refused to be drawn into specifics. Asked directly about Savinho in his pre-match press conference, he stayed firmly on script.

“It's not right to speak about the players until they are official,” he said. “Just to say, I'm very happy. We have not finished yet in the transfer market.”

The Italian is clearly expecting more business. He just won’t name it.

His tone did not change after Tottenham’s bruising 3-0 defeat to Brentford. If anything, his focus widened. He spoke less about individuals and more about the project, the promises made, and the scale of what comes next.

“I am very happy and I think I can't speak about the other coaches [in the past],” he said of working with the Lewis family. “I just can say, in my experience, they kept their word, they kept what they said before I came in March, the end of March, in the middle of March, and then very happy.

“But what we are doing is not for the coach. It’s for the club, for the fans, for the history of the club, for the pride of the club, and for the level of the club. I think this moment is crucial for this club, because after two seasons like we had, we have to change the mood, completely change it, give it a boost.”

That “boost” is where Marmoush and Savinho come in. Two attacking signings, big money, big statements. The kind of deals that say a club is done hovering and ready to attack the top.

De Zerbi made it clear he sees this window as a turning point, not a quick fix.

“Then, I think when we have finished in this transfer market, for a long time we don't need many things and we can work all together in the right condition, in the right direction, to build step by step something special, or to go to compete for the top of the table.”

Tottenham now have their targets, City have laid out the dynamics, and the deadline is creeping closer. If this is the crucial moment De Zerbi says it is, the next few days will show just how far Spurs are prepared to go to match his ambition.