Tottenham's Ambitious Rebuild: Tonali and New Arrivals

Tottenham have spent the last two seasons staring into the abyss. Back-to-back 17th-place finishes, a final-day scramble for survival, and a fanbase that went from dreaming of European nights to counting points in May. Yes, the Europa League triumph in 2024-25 put a trophy in the cabinet, but it didn’t disguise how close this club came to disaster.

Roberto De Zerbi arrived in the middle of that storm, picking up a managerial baton that had slipped from the hands of Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor. He steadied the ship, dragged Spurs over the line and kept them in the division. Now comes the hard part: turning a relegation escape act into a credible Premier League campaign.

The board has decided to back him. Heavily.

Spurs spend big – and send a message

The exits will come. They have to. Too many underperformers, too many big wages for too little return. But while the clear-out gathers pace, the arrivals hall at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has already been busy.

Italy international Sandro Tonali is the headline act. Alongside him, ex-West Ham midfielder Mateus Fernandes and former Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke have walked through the door, each deal completed in the face of rival interest. Spurs, bruised by their league position, have still proved they can pull players away from other suitors.

The question lingers, though. Is Tonali in north London because of the project, or because of the postcode and the pay packet?

Former Tottenham midfielder Danny Murphy, speaking to GOAL in association with BetWright, didn’t dodge the reality of modern transfers. “I think it would be naive to think that London isn't a pull for a lot of the foreign boys. I say that through experience and speaking to them,” he said.

His instinct is blunt. If one of the established heavyweights – “Man U, Man City, Liverpool” – had matched Spurs’ financial push and gone just as hard, Murphy suspects Tonali might have chosen them. “Because to pick a location over winning trophies isn't something many players would do. But London is a pull. I don't know who was in for him for sure.”

That’s the balance Tottenham are walking. Tradition and trophies still live elsewhere. Lifestyle and wages live with them.

London, money, and being “the main man”

Murphy sees clear advantages that Tottenham can offer, beyond the skyline and the nightlife. “The one advantage you have going to Tottenham, other than London, is the financial side. They've really pushed the boat out to get him. Maybe some of the other clubs who were in for him didn't push the boat out to that level.”

But he also pointed to something more footballing, something every elite player quietly craves – status and guaranteed minutes.

“You have a conversation with the coach when you're talking about which club you're going to go to,” Murphy said. “Maybe if there was interest from elsewhere, there wasn't a guarantee you're always going to play. I don't know that, but I know of situations in the past where a player would choose a club where he's been reassured that he's going to be the main man, he's going to play every week.”

Tonali, then, is likely walking into a dressing room where he has been promised responsibility. “I would imagine the mix of being the main man in the middle of the park, phenomenal wages, and London probably was a mixture of all three. I'd like to think it was a mixture of that as well.”

Murphy doesn’t shy away from the more cynical side of the game. “I don't like to think of players purely moving based on money or location, but it does happen.” Still, he is convinced Tottenham have landed a cornerstone. “I think that he's a terrific signing and they've done really well to get him irrelevant of the cost and the amount of wages. I think he'll really improve them.”

A swollen squad and a thin margin for error

Tonali is not the only piece in this rebuild. Murphy likes what he’s seeing, but he’s not blind to the complications.

“It's a statement of intent, much needed,” he said of the early business and the clear desire to bring in players with Premier League experience. Then came the caveat. “I think the only difficulty around what I'm seeing there is at the moment, until the dealings are all done, they've got a heavy squad anyway.”

Here lies a very modern problem. Tottenham are not in Europe. No midweek games, no extra rotation, no soft minutes to hand out to keep egos satisfied. “When you're not in Europe, you've got to be very good at your job as a manager to be able to keep that many players happy when you've only got Premier League football,” Murphy warned. “That could become a little problematic unless we start seeing a bit of an exodus of players from Tottenham.”

The issue writes itself: players who were poor last season, on strong contracts, are not easy to shift. “The problem with that, of course, is a lot of them who were poor last season, who were on good wages, how many takers have they got? So, there's still some work to do at Tottenham, but I do like what they've done.”

He namechecks the new faces again. “I like Van Hecke, I like Fernandes.” And then he circles back to a player who already knows the club, and whose absence last season hurt them badly.

“I think [James] Maddison coming back is going to be a big plus for them as well because we know what he brings.”

From survival scrap to top-six talk

The ambition is clear. With Tonali anchoring the midfield, Van Hecke adding bite at the back, Fernandes offering energy, and Maddison returning as a creative hub, Spurs are aiming higher than simply staying afloat.

“I think realistically for them, top six has got to be a realistic ambition,” Murphy said. “Top four might be a push to jump that high so quickly, but top six is realistic for them with the players they're bringing in.”

That’s the line now for Tottenham. No more flirting with the drop. No more final-day anxiety. A club that almost fell through the trapdoor has started to spend and act like one that belongs back in the upper reaches.

They have the coach. They have the city. They have the money. With Tonali at the heart of it, we’re about to find out if they finally have the team.