Tottenham have been active in the transfer window so far but there is plenty more still to be done as Roberto De Zerbi continues his squad overhaul
Tottenham have been more active than ever before so early in a transfer window but Roberto De Zerbi will need further help with a player or two in the next fortnight.
Spurs have acted quickly with four transfers already agreed this month, including the free moves for Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dubravka as well as the £52million deal with Brighton for Jan Paul van Hecke. The club moved swiftly for the quartet but there is one aspect that De Zerbi won’t be immediately helped by and it’s that all three of the outfield players will not be present at the start of pre-season for the Italian.
That’s because they are or have been playing at the World Cup for their countries. Van Hecke and Senesi are both through to the knockout stages with the Netherlands and Argentina respectively but Robertson is now back home and out of the competition after Scotland’s exit was finally confirmed at the weekend.
De Zerbi will be stepping into his first pre-season at Hotspur Way with the Spurs players expected to start returning to the Enfield training complex in stages from Friday July 10 for medical and physical testing and gym work. They will launch into full work on the training pitches with the coaching staff from Monday July 13 ahead of a Premier League season which begins later this year due to the World Cup.
All players must be offered three weeks of rest after a summer international competition which means Robertson, an ankle injury suffered against Brazil allowing, could be back a week or two into pre-season but his two fellow new defenders may not be back until August if their World Cup brings want they want.
Dubravka should be involved from the start between the sticks as the 37-year-old Slovakia international will have had all summer to prepare for this new chapter in his career.
De Zerbi will want new outfield players in pre-season though as quickly as possible and preferably from the start because the sooner they arrive the quicker they can adapt to his style of football and the high level of fitness required to play it in all positions of the pitch.
Van Hecke at least holds an advantage in that he knows what the Italian’s football is all about but others will need to adapt quickly to a very different style of football.
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De Zerbi used a compromised version of his football at Spurs after arriving in April, telling football.london that he did not want to confuse his new players with too much information when time was at a premium.
Pep Guardiola once said of the Italian and his Brighton side: “Roberto is one of the most influential managers in the last 20 years. There is no team playing the way they play – it’s unique.”
The former Manchester City boss likened De Zerbi’s impact to a famous chef in Catalonia, Ferran Adria, adding: “He changed the cuisine. What Brighton are doing is also unique.”
So if you’re thinking adjusting to full-on De Zerbi can’t be that hard, here’s what the experienced Lewis Dunk said about his first experience of the Italian at Brighton, first with the language barrier but then also the major difference in training sessions.
“The first couple of weeks were horrendous… I wouldn’t say horrendous, they were baffling. He knows that, we have spoken about it and he knew that at the time, coming in, not speaking English, speaking through a translator,” he said. “The first meeting when he went in, I was so confused, who to look at, what to listen to, and you slowly pick up, basically don’t listen to the manager, wait for the translator to speak and you get there in the end.
“Training changed dramatically, we worked on a lot of different stuff and the first couple of weeks were a really hard transition. We were fourth in the league when Graham [Potter] left and we were flying with him. It was a strange time for him to go and then Roberto came in and it was carnage for two weeks.”
It was all worth it though for Dunk, who got into the England set-up thanks to De Zerbi, and the centre-back added: “Football-wise, since the new manager at Brighton has come in, I see football in a completely different way. I picture it in a different way and that is the biggest thing. Football is not what I thought it was.”
That was three years ago so De Zerbi’s English is much improved, only needing to lean on interpreter Enrico Venturelly for certain phrases and words, but his brand of football and training will still come as a shock for some, with at least his current Spurs players having experienced basic elements of it as a foundation.
So it’s either notable or maybe just a coincidence that many of the players Tottenham are currently linked with are mostly not involved in the World Cup this summer so could get going from the off if agreements can be found and rival clubs seen off.
The club have held talks over midfielders Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes about major moves this summer, although they face big competition for both players’ signatures if they are to sign them from Newcastle and West Ham respectively. Manchester City winger Savinho has also been a target for the club for some time and did not make Brazil’s squad for the World Cup this summer.
Some delays are unavoidable but in an ideal world, Spurs would want to get as many deals sealed in the next 11 days to ensure players can hit the ground running under De Zerbi in the early weeks at Hotspur Way before heading off on the summer tour to New Zealand and Australia later next month.
Moving so quickly for four transfers already has been a world away from Tottenham’s usual summer style of operating which often left head coaches frustrated. The one recent summer in which they moved relatively swiftly with a couple of early signings was in Ange Postecoglou’s first season and for another manager with very different methods, that appeared to work as Spurs flew out of the traps in the Australian’s opening 10 games of the season.
A similar start under De Zerbi in another campaign without European football might just set up a big season under the Italian if it can be maintained.
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