Roberto De Zerbi's Vision for Tottenham: Bergvall Stays, Sarr's Future Uncertain

Roberto De Zerbi has drawn one clear line in a summer of upheaval at Tottenham: Lucas Bergvall is going nowhere. Pape Matar Sarr? That one is far less certain.

The Italian head coach, who has overseen a radical rebuild in north London, was emphatic about Bergvall’s future but noticeably cautious when Sarr’s name came up, with the club’s midfield shaken up by the £185million arrivals of Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes.

Bergvall stays, Sarr waits

“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.”

It has been a sharp turn from earlier in the summer. Before leaving for the World Cup, Bergvall had told the club he wanted a fresh challenge and more chances to grow as a number eight. Tottenham knocked back bids from Newcastle and Nottingham Forest for the 20-year-old, and De Zerbi responded by loading him with minutes and starts in pre-season. The strategy worked. The player who once pushed to move now appears convinced to stay.

Sarr’s situation is different. The 23-year-old reported back late after remaining in Senegal until the first week of August, and his place in a suddenly crowded midfield is no longer guaranteed.

“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.

With Tonali and Fernandes now in the building and the window still open, Sarr’s future hangs in that familiar late-August limbo.

Spending big, talking straight

Tottenham’s spending is hurtling towards £377million this summer with the expected arrivals of Manchester City attackers Savinho and Omar Marmoush. For a club that flirted with relegation last season, this is a different world.

The Lewis family had promised “actions not words” after that near-disaster. De Zerbi says they have delivered.

“In my experience, they kept their word, they kept what they said before I came in March,” he said. “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 plan is clear: spend heavily now, then stabilise.

“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,” he said. “Not maybe now, or maybe yes, I don’t know, but we have the squad to play in every stadium in the right way.”

De Zerbi is careful not to declare Tottenham contenders before a ball is kicked, but he is not hiding from the scale of the project either.

“On paper it’s very close,” he said of the squad he wants. “On the pitch we have to see and we have to work. I’m very happy with the squad. We have to complete the squad but at the moment very happy.”

Noise from outside, fuel from within

Rival fans and pundits have lined up to take shots at Tottenham’s spending, despite the club leaning on stadium revenues and potentially banking around £213million in sales and loans this summer. De Zerbi shrugs off the criticism and turns it into ammunition.

“I don’t know, you have to explain to me,” he said. “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 says he reminds his players of that hostility “every week”.

“The last friendly game against Hoffenheim, the time before was against Everton,” he added. “You can imagine the difference between that game and the game against Everton when we stayed up with all that pressure.”

The message is simple: remember the struggle, use the noise.

Tonali, the £100m centrepiece

At the heart of this new Tottenham sits a £100million midfielder. Sandro Tonali arrived from Newcastle as the club’s record signing and, for De Zerbi, has already exceeded expectations.

“Sandro Tonali is better than I thought before working with him, as a player and as a guy,” he said. “I know his family, his agents, and I know they all are good people. 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.”

De Zerbi wants a squad that can challenge the European elite. That means relentless competition for places and no promises beyond honesty.

“Today is August 21st, I think every one of those players, they already know the squad,” he said. “If one of them doesn’t want to accept the competition inside the pitch, inside the dressing room, they can leave.

“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.”

Young talent and tough choices

The influx of attacking talent raises inevitable questions about the pathway for academy products. Mikey Moore, 19, is expected to feature against Brentford in Saturday’s Premier League opener, even as a loan move to Bundesliga side Koln is discussed.

“Now is not the right moment to speak about the last 10 days of transfer market,” De Zerbi said. “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 balance between ambition and development will define how deep this rebuild really runs.

The soul of Tottenham

De Zerbi has not limited his work to the training pitch or the transfer market. He arranged for a large group of former Tottenham players – including Glenn Hoddle, Gary Mabbutt and Steve Perryman – to speak to the current squad about what the club truly represents.

“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.”

One name was missing from that gathering, and De Zerbi made no attempt to hide his disappointment.

“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. Waddle would have been good for Kudus, for Kulusevski, for Xavi Simons, for Mathys [Tel] because he was a great player.”

De Zerbi talks about football as “connection” and “magic”, about players thinking like the coach and substitutes becoming the biggest fans of those who start. The money has changed, the squad has changed, the expectations have changed.

Now he wants to find out if the football can change with it – and whether this rebuilt Tottenham can carry the weight of its past into a very different future.