Tottenham's Summer Spending Spree Continues with Savinho

Tottenham’s spending spree shows no sign of slowing, and Roberto De Zerbi is doing little to hide his satisfaction — even if he refuses to say Savinho’s name out loud just yet.

Spurs have reached an agreement to sign winger Savinho from Manchester City in a deal worth £75million, with a further £10m in potential add-ons. They are also targeting his City team-mate Omar Marmoush as De Zerbi continues to reshape a squad that only just escaped relegation on the final day of last season.

If completed, Savinho’s arrival will push Tottenham’s summer outlay beyond the £300m mark. The club have already smashed their transfer record twice in the same window: first with the £85m capture of Mateus Fernandes, then with Sandro Tonali’s £100m switch from Newcastle.

De Zerbi, though, stayed on-message when asked directly about the Brazil international.

“It is not right to speak about players until they are official,” he said. “Just to say, I am very happy. We have not finished yet in the transfer market. It is an important part.

“So far, we have had a great [summer for] signings. Great players and personalities. But you don’t win the game with big-name players. We have to deserve to win games.”

The money is eye-watering. The message is not. De Zerbi wants the focus on structure and identity, not just the chequebook.

He was quick to credit the club’s hierarchy for backing his vision.

“We are working very well with Johan Lange, with Vinai [Venkatesham], and with Nick [Beucher] — with the whole board,” the Spurs head coach added.

De Zerbi only arrived in March, yet he has already lived through a full-blown crisis at Spurs. He took over a team staring at the trapdoor and dragged them clear on the final day. That experience has clearly left a mark.

“It feels like I’ve been here ten years, but just three months,” he said. “Three very intense months. We can’t forget what happened last season. It’s a big lesson for us. We are building a big project.”

The Italian has distilled that project into two “big challenges” for this summer — and he wants them met quickly.

“Now the big challenge — the first two targets — we are very clear in ourselves, is to find the soul of the team,” he continued. “The second target is to improve in our organisation of football, with the ball and without the ball.

“Our style has to be the key of our season. These two characteristics I want to find as soon as possible.”

The cheques are clearing, the names are getting bigger, the fees are climbing. De Zerbi, though, is staking his Tottenham tenure on something less tangible and far harder to buy: a soul, a style, and a team that can prove it actually deserves all this noise.