De Zerbi's Ambitious Midfield Overhaul at Tottenham
Roberto De Zerbi did not come to north London to tinker. He came to tear up, redraw and accelerate. Tottenham Hotspur’s summer business is proof that the rebuild he promised is not theoretical any more – it is happening, line by line, zone by zone.
The back line went first. Marcos Senesi arrived to anchor the centre of defence, Andy Robertson to patrol the left, Martin Dubravka to compete in goal, and Jan Paul van Hecke followed from Brighton & Hove Albion to reinforce the heart of the back four. All on the market, all on free transfers bar Van Hecke, all fitting a clear idea.
Now the focus has shifted into the engine room. And here, De Zerbi has gone big.
Spurs have made their fifth and sixth signings of the window by landing two headline central midfielders: Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United and Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United. One window, two players, and an entire midfield dynamic rewritten.
A midfield built for De Zerbi’s risk and reward
De Zerbi leans on a 4-2-3-1. At his best, that shape is less a formation and more a launchpad – a structure that allows his teams to dominate the ball, lure opponents in, then rip through them.
He parked much of that during his first seven Premier League matches at Spurs, firefighting to stave off relegation and prioritising survival over ideology. But the blueprint never disappeared. His Brighton & Hove Albion and Marseille sides told the story: possession-heavy, high pressing, and then those sudden surges into direct, vertical football.
The defining trick is what has come to be known as “press-baiting”. Centre-backs and goalkeeper invite pressure, the double pivot offers angles, and passes zip between them in rehearsed patterns. Opponents step up, sensing weakness. One clean pass breaks the first line, and suddenly it looks like a counter-attack – only it has been orchestrated from the first touch.
To play that way, your central midfielders cannot hide. They must be aggressive without the ball, fearless with it, and comfortable switching from calm, one-touch circulation under pressure to urgent, line-splitting passes when the trigger comes.
At Brighton, De Zerbi had Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo as his reference point, a pair who have since become pillars at Liverpool and Chelsea. At Spurs, Fernandes and Tonali are being asked to echo that influence.
Why Fernandes and Tonali fit the plan
Stack their profiles against Spurs’ most-used central midfielders from 2025/26 and the logic is obvious.
De Zerbi’s teams hunt high. Pressing and winning the ball back near the opposition box is not a bonus; it is a core principle. Conor Gallagher’s late-season importance as an attacking midfielder underlined that, his running and intensity giving a hint of where De Zerbi wanted to go.
Data from last season’s Premier League shows Tonali and Fernandes sit in the territory coaches covet: players who rack up high turnovers – regaining possession in open play within 40 metres of the opponent’s goal – and hoover up loose balls with regular ball recoveries. They are not passive screeners. They step in, step up and clamp down.
On the ball, the contrast is just as stark. Look at the metrics for final-third entries and passing accuracy and the picture sharpens. Tonali and Fernandes both stand out among Premier League midfielders for the volume of passes they complete and how often they move the ball into the attacking third from deeper zones.
Tonali averages 13.24 completed passes into the final third per 90 minutes, along with 16.81 forward passes, hitting an open-play pass accuracy of 84.8 per cent and winning possession in the final third 0.53 times per game. Fernandes posts 10.30 final-third passes, 12.65 forward passes, an 87.8 per cent open-play accuracy and 0.51 possession wins in the final third.
Compare that with Spurs’ existing options from last season: Pape Sarr at 9.96 final-third passes, Archie Gray at 6.57, Joao Palhinha at 5.53, Rodrigo Bentancur at 7.56. Their numbers trail the newcomers not only in progression but also in high regains. The gap is clear.
Now place Tonali and Fernandes alongside De Zerbi’s Brighton benchmark. Mac Allister, in that 2022/23 peak season, delivered 14.16 final-third passes and an 87.0 per cent open-play accuracy, winning the ball in the final third 0.90 times per 90. Caicedo hit 14.22 final-third passes, 15.62 forward passes, 88.7 per cent accuracy and 0.57 possession wins high up.
Tonali and Fernandes do not quite match the Brighton duo in every category, but they live in the same statistical neighbourhood. For a coach trying to recreate the structure and behaviours of that side in a new environment, that matters.
Fernandes: the creator in a double pivot
Fernandes brings something Spurs’ midfield has largely lacked: a genuine creator at the base.
He can hit those long, raking diagonals that flip the point of attack in an instant. He can thread smart through-balls between the lines. He can carry the ball himself, using line-breaking dribbles to draw pressure and open space for others.
His numbers scream No 10 in a deeper role. Last season he created 32 chances and attempted 31 take-ons from central areas, outstripping Sarr (11 chances, 22 take-ons), Gray (8, 16), Palhinha (8, 23) and Bentancur (10, 32). While those players offered industry, structure or defensive bite, Fernandes adds imagination.
All of this came in a cautious, reactive West Ham side that ended up relegated. Drop him into a front-foot Spurs team that spends long spells in the opposition half and those creative outputs should climb. He will see more of the ball in better positions and, crucially, will be encouraged to take risks with it.
In De Zerbi’s system, Fernandes is the one who can turn a carefully choreographed press-baiting sequence into a cutting pass between centre-back and full-back, or a disguised ball into the No 10’s feet. He is the accelerator.
Tonali: the destroyer who wants the ball
Tonali is the other half of the equation, the Caicedo echo.
He tackles like a destroyer – think Palhinha or Bentancur – but he does not stop at breaking play up. His numbers for forward passing and final-third involvement show a midfielder who wants to drive his team up the pitch rather than simply recycle possession sideways.
Last season he created 37 chances and attempted 48 take-ons, a higher creative and ball-carrying output than any of Spurs’ regular central options. That blend of aggression, mobility and ambition is exactly what De Zerbi wants from the more defensive of his two pivots.
In Spurs’ structure, Tonali should be the one stepping into duels, pinching the ball back high, then immediately punching it forward – into Fernandes, into the attacking midfielder, or straight into the channels. He is not there just to shield the back four. He is there to turn turnovers into instant threat.
A new heartbeat for Spurs
Strip away the graphs and tables and something else becomes clear: this is as much about mentality as it is about metrics.
De Zerbi, Fernandes and Tonali share a footballing instinct – to play on the front foot, to force the issue, to embrace risk in pursuit of reward. They do not retreat from pressure; they invite it and then try to hurt you once you step in.
For Spurs, that marks a shift. The Thomas Frank era leaned more towards control and caution. Ange Postecoglou had dragged the club back towards adventurous football before that, and De Zerbi’s appointment hinted at a desire to rekindle that spirit with even more tactical edge.
With Fernandes and Tonali in the middle, Spurs now have a double pivot built to press high, pass forward and live in that dangerous space between composure and chaos. It is a statement that the rebuild is not just about new faces, but about a new way of playing.
The question now is not whether De Zerbi has the tools. It is how far this new midfield can drive Tottenham in a league that punishes hesitation and rewards exactly the kind of daring he demands.
