The Tottenham Hotspur boss has got himself a new signing at the top end of the pitch and wants more spending in the transfer window
Roberto De Zerbi wants more transfers this summer to follow new Tottenham Hotspur signing Savio(Image: Courtesy of Tottenham Hotspur)
Roberto De Zerbi believes Tottenham’s new £85million signing Savio will be worth the wait as the Brazilian can become one of the world’s best wingers and has warned the Premier League that he wants Spurs to spend more.
Spurs waited all summer for the 22-year-old Brazilian, known as Savinho during his time at Manchester City before looking to return to his birth name. Despite the young winger making it clear he wanted to make the move to north London early in the summer, Tottenham only finally sealed his arrival on Tuesday in a deal worth £75million up front with another £10million in add-ons.
Savio managed 13 assists and three goals in his first campaign under Pep Guardiola but struggled for minutes last season around a thigh injury. De Zerbi has been chasing the Brazil international since his Brighton days, when the winger starred at Girona, and is thrilled to finally get his man.
“In terms of one-vs-one, he’s one of the best players, especially because he’s only 22. He can play on the right, on the left,” he said. “I spoke with him before he went to City. He’s a big player for us, a big signing.
“He is so good at one-vs-ones, so good in creating chances to score, now to be complete he has to score. If you analyse the other best wingers in the world, many of them score 10-15 goals per season. He has the qualities.”
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De Zerbi admits it was tough waiting all summer for Savio to finally make the move away from Enzo Maresca’s side.
“I am not patient. I have no patience, but I had to wait, because we started the negotiation for Savio three days after the Everton game [on the final day of the season],” said the Italian. “For many reasons we arrived in the last week of August to close Savio.
“You can close on other players, but if you want the highest level, the highest quality of the players, it’s right to wait, more than for a normal player.”
While Savinho struggled to become the main man at City, De Zerbi believes he can become exactly that at Tottenham if he works on his finishing.
“He must become one of the key players. The improvement is to become better, take more responsibility. Not just Savio, but also the other players,” he said. “In a football career, you arrive one day [at a point where] you have to show if you are good enough, and for him, he’s arrived at that moment and we are here to help him, hug him, give all the instruction, all the information he needs. Then he has to put his face on the pitch like the other players.”
He added: “I was a player, I played in the same position as Savio. We have to be good, so good, to complete his qualities, because if we can, we find a top, top player.”
The £85million for Savio takes Tottenham’s spending to £319million on four signings with another three free transfers while the north London club are looking to bring in the Brazilian’s City team-mate Omar Marmoush this week in what could end up being a loan with an obligation to buy the Egyptian for £50million.
Tottenham have completed the transfer of Savio from Manchester City(Image: Courtesy of Tottenham Hotspur)
Some pundits and rival fans have bemoaned Spurs spending big money this summer despite the north London going about it the right way with their stadium revenue and balancing much of it with player sales this summer.
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville said on Monday about the 3-0 opening day defeat at Brentford for a mix and match Tottenham side: “They’ll get better but that was an absolute mauling. To be fair I think it’s absolutely brilliant that these expensively assembled squads, with players signed for £80million or £90million and then you see just a group of players who are well organised, got really good quality and been together for a couple of years, a manager who is sound, and literally they are just pulling them apart.
“You see it time and time again. They will get better but that’s a real sobering weekend for Tottenham.”
When asked about the pressure that comes with being the head coach of a club spending big money, De Zerbi hit back and said he wants Spurs to keep spending.
“I felt pressure from the first day of working in football, because I put pressure on myself. I don’t feel pressure about the transfer market. If I can, I want to spend more money again. Without problems. Because the other teams don’t spend anything different than money,” he said.
“I feel pressure because I am working in one of the best clubs in the world, and I would like to help this club to compete to win the titles. I don’t know [whether] this season or next season. But, in the end, it’s my big target, personal target, because the club didn’t ask me anything – just to compete, to work well. We have nothing less than the other big clubs in the Premier League, especially now in my time.
“We are moving very well in the transfer market, and why not? I can’t understand why Tottenham can’t compete with Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal. I don’t understand why Tottenham can’t spend the same money as Chelsea, Liverpool. Explain to me, because I’m not smart enough to understand.”
De Zerbi is smart enough to understand that Tottenham need to change their mentality throughout the club and particularly in the way the first team think.
“Together, we are stronger than alone. It is a process, and the process is not so fast. It is tough, because sometimes it seems to be in a better position and then you understand maybe you have to work again. But it is a process, like the big teams have done in the past,” said the Italian.
“I don’t want to speak about other teams, but if you look at the Premier League in the last 10 years, Chelsea, for example, because they won the Club World Cup. At the beginning they spent two or three seasons to become a team. I think we can do it, for sure, faster. But we need to work harder, everyone together, stay focused, and with a clear head. Not destroying everything if we lose one game, or if we win, we are good enough to win the Premier League.
“No. it is not like this. We need to keep the balance and know the journey will be longer, but maybe with the qualities of the players, with our club and fans, we can reduce the time.”
De Zerbi believes the habits of his players and the staff around them are set to change in the very near future.
“I would like to win five games in a row, changing the habits. The environment of the team group, that’s the medical and physical staff, my staff, because we are maybe not now but in a few weeks we will be ready to win three, four, five games in a row,” he explained.
“Like we did last season. Against Brighton we lost two points in added time, we won at Wolverhampton, we won at Villa, we didn’t beat Leeds but the game more to win than lose, so four games in a row. And in the beginning we didn’t have enough to win one game.”
So is it difficult for a manager who will not ask for time but will need it despite the money spent, because of the vast rebuild required?
“This is football. Maybe last season was a tougher challenge to stay up than this season,” he said. “I can’t ask for time because in football there is no time. You have to play and you have to make results from the beginning. But the most important thing is working in the best way, improving week by week and I think we have the qualities to win some games, also at the beginning of the Premier League.”
He added: “I said to the players – last season, in a worse situation, we showed character and we showed balls, we showed pride. We showed the qualities of the players and now we have to stay calm and analyse better the situation – not to have an emotional reaction. That is not good now. Now we have to be intelligent.”
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