Roberto De Zerbi's Aggressive Rebuild at Tottenham

Roberto De Zerbi is not easing his way into life at Tottenham. He’s tearing into it.

The Italian has laid out his transfer philosophy in typically vivid fashion, casting himself as a relentless predator in the market and warning that Spurs are only a little over halfway through a radical rebuild.

“In the transfer market when I want one player I become like a shark, no chance to say no!” he told Football London, a line that lands like both a promise and a threat to the rest of Europe.

“Sixty per cent” done – and a “bomba” to come

Tottenham have already spent heavily, most notably on £85m forward Mateus Fernandes, but De Zerbi insists this is no finished product. Not even close.

“The transfer market, it's not finished for sure, but we completed 60 per cent of our project in the transfer market. Now we have another bomba!” he said.

That “bomba” is widely expected to be Savinho. The Brazilian winger is understood to be pushing Manchester City to green-light a move to north London, a deal that would add yet another high-end option to an attacking group being reshaped in De Zerbi’s image.

He is not just collecting forwards. He is building a system.

Everything starts with the full-backs

If there was any doubt about how central full-backs are to his ideas, De Zerbi removed it with a detailed explanation of how he chooses his wingers.

“A winger can be a very wide winger, one able to come inside, a winger without a full-back, a winger able to play with the full-back,” he said, sketching out the different profiles he wants at his disposal.

Then came the praise. Big praise.

“We have four great full-backs at the moment, maybe the four most important full-backs in the world, because I think Pedro Porro is the best right-back in the world, with [Destiny] Udogie, [Andy] Robertson, and Djed Spence can play right and left.

“Before bringing in a winger, we have to consider the full-back, because we start from the full-back, from the player we already have, no?”

That line tells the story. At Tottenham under De Zerbi, the full-back is not a supporting actor. He is the starting point. Any winger arriving this summer will be chosen to complement them, not the other way around.

When pressed on whether the next signing was close, De Zerbi kept his stance aggressive but guarded: “I hope, but it's not finished for sure.”

Romero, respect and the promise he made

While one side of the squad is being reinforced, another pillar is preparing to walk away.

Cristian Romero, club captain and one of the most combative defenders in Europe, is pushing for a return to Serie A. Inter sporting director Piero Ausilio has already confirmed that talks are active over bringing the 2026 World Cup finalist to San Siro.

De Zerbi did not hide his admiration for the Argentine, nor his determination to honour the player’s wishes.

“Romero as a player is one of the best centre-backs in the world, but at the end I said I want to respect the will of the players,” he explained.

He then revealed a pact he made with the squad back in April, when the club were still fighting to secure their status.

“I said: ‘Help me to stay up, and then I help you to leave’. If you don't help me to stay up, you stay underwater with me!”

Romero, De Zerbi stressed, kept his side of the bargain.

“But Romero with me was unbelievable. Top. In his behaviour, his respect, he suffered when he did not play the last game. It is not true that he wanted to leave for Argentina to prepare for their World Cup. It's not true.”

The message is clear: if Romero goes, he goes with the manager’s blessing, not in a cloud of suspicion.

Harsh lessons, hard rules

De Zerbi’s ruthlessness is not reserved for the transfer market. It extends to the dressing room, where younger talents such as Lucas Bergvall and Djed Spence are drawing interest but have been given an unmistakable warning.

He wants them to stay. He also wants absolute buy-in.

“If they stay, they have to stay following my rules, decisions on the pitch,” he said. “After two games, three games, if one player is not playing and he starts to be sad or not correct with the other players, the coaches, staff, the club, we would make a big, big mistake because we didn't learn from the past season.”

No sulking. No fractures. No repeats of the internal issues that scarred the previous campaign. De Zerbi is drawing a hard line: commitment or the door.

Chelsea next, with a shark in charge

For now, the noise of the market gives way, briefly, to the sound of boots on grass. Tottenham’s reshaped squad turn their attention to a pre-season meeting with Chelsea on Saturday, a first glimpse of how De Zerbi’s ideas might look in real time.

The squad is not settled. The captain may be on his way out. Another “bomba” is expected.

But one thing is already obvious: with De Zerbi prowling the market “like a shark”, this Tottenham rebuild is not drifting. It’s hunting.