Tottenham's Transfer Strategy: Bergvall Stays, Sarr's Future Uncertain
Roberto De Zerbi has nailed one certainty to the door at Tottenham: Lucas Bergvall is going nowhere. Pape Matar Sarr? That’s a very different conversation.
The Italian head coach, armed with a radically rebuilt squad and a transfer spend heading towards £377million, cut through the noise as he laid out where Spurs stand with less than two weeks of the window left.
Bergvall stays, Sarr waits
Bergvall made it clear earlier in the summer, before heading to the World Cup, that he wanted a new challenge and the chance to grow into a number eight role. Newcastle and Nottingham Forest tested Tottenham’s resolve. Spurs said no.
De Zerbi then handed the 20-year-old serious minutes in pre-season, and the tone has shifted.
“Lucas Bergvall, 100 per cent [he is staying],” De Zerbi said. “We spoke a lot in pre season. He’s a top player, a top potential player. I like that he stays but I think now he wants to stay and we have no problem.”
The picture is far less clear for Sarr. The 23-year-old midfielder reported back late after staying in Senegal until the first week of August, and he now finds himself in the most crowded area of the pitch after the £185million arrivals of Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes.
“He’s a good player. I don’t know if he stays or not, we have to analyse the situation, but he is another very very important player,” De Zerbi admitted.
The message is blunt: Bergvall is part of the plan. Sarr is waiting to see if there’s still a chair when the music stops on September 1.
Actions, not words – and a £377m revolution
The Lewis family promised “actions not words” after last season’s brush with relegation. The numbers say they meant it. With Manchester City attackers Savinho and Omar Marmoush potentially still to come, Tottenham’s spend could reach £377million, offset by a projected £213million in sales and loans.
De Zerbi is not interested in rewriting history about previous managers, but he is clear about his own experience.
“I am very happy and I think I can't speak about the other coaches [in the past],” he said. “I just can say, in my experience, they kept their word, they kept what they said before I came in March… 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.”
The spending spree, he insists, is not a sugar rush. It is meant to set a platform.
“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.
“Not maybe now, or maybe yes, I don't know, but we have the squad to play in every stadium in the right way. Face to face, we know we have to improve. We have to become a team, but I think we also have all the qualities to do that.”
Big potential, bigger expectations
De Zerbi is not hiding from the scale of what Tottenham have assembled, but he is wary of declaring anything before the window shuts.
“Yes. Big potential. At the end of the transfer market, I will be more accurate in my opinion,” he said. “I have to keep the balance because sometimes the transfer market – with Tonali and JP Van Henke – we bring in a lot.”
Rival fans and pundits have howled about Tottenham’s spending. De Zerbi sees the complaints as both baffling and useful.
“I don’t know, you have to explain to me. For me, no pressure and it’s not a problem. I don’t know why the people don’t love if Tottenham becomes better. It’s one motivation more for us. Last season, all other clubs wanted to kill us. This is another part of football.”
He has turned that siege mentality into a weekly reminder.
“Every week we have to remember last season,” he said. “The last friendly game against Hoffenheim, the time before was against Everton. You can imagine the difference between that game and the game against Everton when we stayed up with all that pressure.”
On paper vs on the pitch
So how close is this Tottenham side to the version De Zerbi carries in his head?
“On paper it’s very close. On the pitch we have to see and we have to work. I am experienced enough not to say too much. I’m very happy with the squad. We have to complete the squad but at the moment very happy. The answer I receive from the pitch has to be like my dreams and my thoughts with the board.”
Excitement is high. De Zerbi is deliberately pulling on the reins.
“To be honest, everyone, we are very excited but in the end the pitch speaks, as we say in Italian. If we start now with big words, I love pressure it’s not a problem of pressure, but if we are to be honest and correct, we have to wait for the answer from the pitch.”
“Football is a connection. Football is like magic. You can find sometimes the connection between players when every player thinks like the coach or we come together with an idea of football and the players who don’t start in the team are the biggest fans of the players who are playing. We have to create something on the pitch and off the pitch to compete like we want.”
Tonali, the £100m centrepiece
The most striking symbol of this new Tottenham is Sandro Tonali, the £100million record signing from Newcastle. De Zerbi has known him for years. Working with him daily has still surprised him.
“Sandro Tonali is better than I thought before working with him, as a player and as a guy. I know his family, his agents, and I know they all are good people,” he said. “I’m very happy to work with him and I think he’s the right player in the right place. Especially because we want to put him inside of the project. He has the right qualities, the right personality, the right values, to stay in this place.”
Tonali is not just a marquee name. He is being positioned as a pillar of the project.
No promises, only competition
With 11 days of the window left, De Zerbi is not dressing up the reality for his players. This is an elite squad now. Not everyone will like what that means.
“Nothing [to do],” he said when asked how he keeps everyone happy. “I love speaking clearly. Today is August 21st, I think every one of those players, they already know the squad. If one of them doesn’t want to accept the competition inside the pitch, inside the dressing room, they can leave.
“I try to be honest and to decide the better decision I can on the pitch to find the best first XI, but the players have to accept why because if we want to become better, if we want to compete for the top of the table, 11 players are not enough, 15 players are not enough.
“If you analyse the teams – Liverpool two years ago, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Milan – the squad there has a big competition inside the dressing room.”
That is the standard he is chasing. That is the environment his players must accept.
Pathways for Mikey Moore and the academy kids
Amid the influx of high-profile signings, the spotlight inevitably swings to Mikey Moore. The 19-year-old is in line to feature against Brentford in Saturday’s Premier League opener, even as a loan move to Bundesliga side Koln hangs in the air.
“Now is not the right moment to speak about the last 10 days of transfer market. I think it’s not finished yet I said,” De Zerbi explained. “I’m very happy with Mikey Moore, he’s working well, he’s a good player, I don’t know if he goes or not on loan.
“I think he has a big potential for the club and we try to find the best solution for every player we have, also for Luca Williams-Barnett or Malachi [Hardy], two potential big players. Proud that they come from our academy. We have to manage them the best way we can.”
The message is consistent: the door is open, but the level has gone up.
Calling on the soul of Tottenham
De Zerbi has not limited his rebuild to the training pitch and the transfer market. He has gone back into the club’s history. A large group of former Tottenham players, including Glenn Hoddle, Gary Mabbutt and Steve Perryman, were invited in to speak to the current squad.
“The players and especially the foreign players, they have to understand the level of this club,” he said. “Even if we finish two seasons in a row in 17th position, nothing changes and the level of the club can’t change because in the last two seasons it was not great.
“The legends, I think they can explain better than me or better than you what Tottenham has been [before] in the Premier League and in Europe.”
There was, however, one glaring absence for the Italian.
“I’m sorry I didn’t see Chris Waddle,” he admitted. “Chris Waddle was one of my favourite players when I was a kid and he played in Marseille. In Marseille I said the same like this and Waddle would have been good for Kudus, for Kulusevski, for Xavi Simons, for Mathys [Tel] because he was a great player.”
The nostalgia is real, but the stakes are very current. Tottenham have spent big, talked tough and rebuilt almost everything. Now it comes down to the one thing De Zerbi keeps returning to.
The pitch will decide whether this is a new era or just another expensive false dawn.
