Eleven points from his final seven games. That's what Roberto Di Zerbi delivered after walking into a Tottenham side that was genuinely, statistically, embarrassingly bad — and that number is the entire reason he's been handed the keys to a nine-figure rebuild this summer.
Spurs finished last season with 41 points and an expected goals difference that put them closer to relegated Leicester City than to any side you'd call a Premier League club with ambition. The only reason they're not preparing for Championship football right now is a Pablo foul on David Raya, some clutch Joao Palhinha scrambles, and an Aston Villa side that tanked their final run-in ahead of a Europa League semifinal. That is not a solid foundation. That is borrowed time.
The £200m gamble in midfield
Di Zerbi's response has been to tear it down and start again. The most eye-catching business is in midfield, where Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes have arrived for a combined fee approaching $250 million. Fernandes makes sense — a young, technically gifted player who fits exactly the profile Di Zerbi developed at Brighton with Caicedo and Mac Allister. If that development track repeats itself, the fee looks reasonable in three years.
Tonali is the harder sell. A solid passer who had good moments at Newcastle, but rarely enough of them to justify a nine-figure price tag. Di Zerbi knows him from Brescia, and apparently one ten-minute phone call was all it took to get the Italy international out of Tyneside. Whether that personal connection translates into elite-level performances at a club under pressure is a different question entirely.
Defensively, Spurs have added depth and experience where last season they had neither. Marco Senesi arrives on a free from Bournemouth, Andy Robertson comes in to guide Destiny Udogie at left back, and Martin Dubravka adds cover in goal. Cristian Romero — temperamental, talented, and apparently absent from the sidelines for the relegation decider — is headed to Atletico Madrid. Hard to argue with the decision. Harder to argue they've replaced his quality.
The most intriguing defensive call is also the riskiest. Spurs essentially traded Luka Vuskovic — 19 years old, one of the better defenders in the Bundesliga on loan at Hamburg — for Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton. Van Hecke is experienced, reliable, Premier League-proven. Vuskovic might have become something special. In five years, that swap could look like a significant misjudgement.
The 'bomba' and what this season actually means
Di Zerbi has teased a "bomba" attacking addition still to come. The names circling — Savinho from Manchester City, Cody Gakpo — are good players, but neither quite fits the billing of a statement signing. Shopping on the fringes of rivals isn't a bomba. It's squad management. If there's a genuine surprise name incoming, Spurs have kept it quiet.
The broader picture here matters for anyone assessing where Tottenham's odds realistically sit in 2026-27. Their revenue — over $750 million in their most recent accounts — means they can spend their way toward mid-table stability. The 60,000-seat stadium and global brand keep the commercial engine running. But last season exposed something the money hadn't fixed: this club has repeatedly prioritised young, physical players on the assumption they could be coached into value, and it nearly cost them their top-flight status.
Di Zerbi's job this season is not to launch Spurs back into the top six. It's to stop the bleeding, build a coherent identity, and avoid the kind of late-season panic that saw them depend on other clubs' failures to stay up. Steady mid-table — somewhere between eighth and twelfth — is a realistic ceiling, and hitting it would actually represent progress given what came before.
The Europa League win in 2025 brought a quarter of a million fans onto the streets of north London. First trophy in 17 years. The scenes were extraordinary. But trophies don't fix structural problems, and Spurs have plenty of those. Di Zerbi has the authority, the backing, and clearly the tactical intelligence. Whether it's enough to stop this club repeating the same cycle it's been stuck in for years is the only question that actually matters.
Last season they needed five separate things to go right just to stay up. That can't be the plan again.
