This is turning into quite a summer for Danny Rose, the former Tottenham and England full back who once criticised his club’s transfer policy by longing for a day when they signed some players he didn’t have to Google.
Well, drink it in, Danny. Spurs have a new recruitment strategy. Quick off the mark and flashing the cash to complete four signings of Premier League repute in the opening weeks of the market, they are close to smashing the club’s transfer record to make Mateus Fernandes number five.
They have matched West Ham’s asking price of £85million and agreed a lucrative package of personal terms that has convinced Fernandes and agent Jorge Mendes, who has been driving the transfer, to reject Manchester United.
Whether it goes down as money spent wisely or not remains to be seen, but it shows the north Londoners almost relegated last season are flexing serious financial muscle, making intentions abundantly clear, and moving with a purpose to satisfy the demands of Roberto De Zerbi.
Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul Van Hecke and Martin Dubravka were all signed up before the end of June.
Now Fernandes is close and Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali is another realistic target. All stress-tested in the Premier League. All sailing through Rose’s litmus test. If he needs to Google this lot, he hasn’t been paying attention to Match of the Day.
Mateus Fernandes is on the brink of becoming Tottenham’s club-record signing for £85m from West Ham
Sandro Tonali may well be next, with Tottenham offering a huge financial package to the Newcastle midfielder
Roberto De Zerbi has already been reunited with his former Brighton pupil Jan Paul van Hecke in a £52m deal
Tackling the midfield
Midfield balance has been a problem for years. Arguably since the time when Mousa Dembele, Victor Wanyama and Christian Eriksen were pulling the strings and Mauricio Pochettino’s team finished as runners-up behind Chelsea.
This year under De Zerbi, they have sought to tackle it head on by identifying Fernandes and Tonali and talking the sort of money it takes to turn their heads, even amid fierce competition. They don’t have either signed on the dotted line, and there will be caution after the experiences of Eberechi Eze and Morgan Gibbs-White last year, but they are getting close and they have gone after midfielders they see operating as a pair.
These two are both physical, aggressive and quick to play forward, and De Zerbi feels they will fit with his style. They come with good personal references about their character and professional behaviour. They are robust with a good record of availability, a significant attribute at Spurs ever since the injury crises that began in the first year of Ange Postecoglou’s tenure.
Recruitment strategies designed primarily for profit and a drive towards young talent and potential left Postecoglou and his successors with fragile, ill-balanced and inexperienced squads unable to withstand Premier League intensity, when coupled with a European campaign and an intense brand of football.
At least someone appears to be conscious of those mistakes. This year, instead of overpaying for the best of youthful promise in the shape of Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel, they are now overpaying for the best Premier League talent available to them.
Sometimes clubs have to make a financial leap when there is ground to make up. With wages to beat Manchester United to Fernandes and reports of a six-year deal worth £275,000 a week on the table to tempt Tonali, it is clear Spurs are breaking the wage structure as well as the transfer fee record. The first four signings under De Zerbi were all from Premier League clubs. Three were free agents but still require attractive personal terms and signing-on fees to secure them.
The deadline has passed to sign Joao Palhinha for £30m from Bayern Munich as per his loan deal, but he was a popular and vital squad member at the end of last season and De Zerbi would like to keep him if Spurs can negotiate a lower fee. Palhinha is keen to return.
Despite deals being close for Fernandes and Tonali, Spurs fans will still be wary after their failed pursuits of Morgan Gibbs-White and Eberechi Eze last summer
The deadline has passed to sign Joao Palhinha for £30m from Bayern Munich, but he was a popular and vital squad member last season and De Zerbi would like to keep him
How can they afford it?
New squad cost ratio rules are in play this year. Premier League clubs cannot spend more than 85 per cent of revenue on first team costs. The UEFA rule is a more stringent 70 per cent so Spurs get some leeway this season because they will not compete in Europe.
They are not immune from the financial rules but the corporate palace they call home generates money and the Lewis family have promised to invest more of it in the squad. At the same time, there have been outgoings (as it stands, Palhinha and Randal Kolo Muani’s loans ended, Yves Bissouma was released and Alejo Veliz sold to Bahia) and there will be more as they try to balance signings with sales.
The latest £100m injection by the Lewis family is for ‘working capital’ – payments already due to come out such as installments of previously agreed transfers – and not to boost this summer’s transfer kitty.
One of the most consistent criticisms of Spurs by fans is that their wages to revenue ratio – at 45 per cent in the most recent accounts – has lagged far behind their wealthy Premier League rivals. And they tightened the wage bill in the last few years by selling their biggest earners such as Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris and Son Heung-min.
Prioritising the defence
Before the midfield came the defence. Robertson, Senesi, Van Hecke and Dubravka all signed, which is potentially four parts of a new back five, adding character, maturity and leadership to a dressing room low on all those factors.
Pedro Porro, Ben Davies and Antonin Kinsky have all signed new contracts since the end of last season.
Learning to sell
One of the first factors identified by chief executive Vinai Venkatesham was that Spurs must become better and more efficient sellers. That is, sell when the time is right. Recognise a good offer when it appears. Create space for potential transfer targets and developing youngsters. Keep the squad fresh and stop the mood becoming stale.
Venkatesham deployed this strategy to good effect at Arsenal where he cleared the decks for Mikel Arteta and prompted Spurs to sell Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace for £35m in January. The deal came with risk and backfired when Mohamed Kudus was injured in the next game, but six months on with relegation avoided it looks like a good fee. Johnson was Spurs’ top scorer in 2024-25 and the hero of Bilbao but ultimately a player they had concluded was not going to take them where they wanted to go.
Other tough decisions are likely to lurk later in the summer. One revolves around Bergvall, who has made it clear he wants to leave Spurs after failing to hold down a place under three different bosses, and watching a fourth chase midfielders like Tonali and Fernandes while he played at the World Cup with Sweden.
Lucas Bergvall has had to watch De Zerbi chase more midfielders having failed to convince the previous three managers
Marcos Senesi will bring added maturity and experience to the Spurs backline
Bergvall is valued highly by Spurs and beating Barcelona to sign him for less than £10m was a rare coup for sporting director Johan Lange, but selling him for four times as much two years later might be good business if De Zerbi sees him as nothing more than a fringe player – even with a 10 per cent slice of any profit going to his former club Djurgarden.
The 20-year-old Swede could not get past Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha in the deep-lying midfield spots at the end of last season nor past Conor Gallagher in the No 10 position when James Maddison and Xavi Simons were out injured. Nottingham Forest are in pursuit of Bergvall as they try to replace Elliot Anderson. He is under contract until 2031 and Spurs insist he is not for sale, and yet I would not be surprised if they reluctantly agree to let him go this summer.
Croatia centre back Luka Vuskovic is another looking to leave and for whom they could turn an impressive profit. The 19-year-old, who spent last season on loan at Hamburg, has many admirers including Brighton, who are reportedly willing to pay more than £40m of the £52m Spurs paid them for Van Hecke.
Other potential exits include Cristian Romero and Guglielmo Vicario. They have attracted interest but are different to Bergvall and Vuskovic – both carry the battle scars of recent crises and are nearing the natural end of their Spurs cycles.
Vicario, 29, has been displaced by Kinsky with back-up now supplied by Dubravka. Van Hecke and Senesi provide De Zerbi with enough strength in central defence to cope without all the problems that come with Romero, 28.
Defensive reinforcements have made departures inevitable. Radu Dragusin is expected to leave with his stock still strong in Italy. It will be telling if this new Spurs regime is prepared to accept cut-price fees for some and ensure deals happen quickly and cleanly. This would help De Zerbi crack on with the rebuild.
Finding firepower
There is still a desire to improve up front. Ideally Spurs would like another centre forward and a left winger. They tried to compete for Antoine Semenyo before he moved to Manchester City in January from Bournemouth and Yan Diomande who seems to have opted to join Paris Saint-Germain from a long line of suitors as he looks to leave Leipzig.
Diomande’s move looks set to hasten Bradley Barcola’s exit from PSG. Liverpool are keen on Barcola and Arsenal are among others keeping a close eye on the France winger.
Spurs have been linked with Cody Gakpo whose future will become uncertain if the dominoes start to fall
They have long-standing interest in Savinho who, like Gakpo, has a price tag in the £60m region
Interest from Champions League clubs makes it difficult for Spurs to get involved but they have been linked with Cody Gakpo whose future will become uncertain if the dominoes start to fall. Spurs have long-standing interest in Savinho who, like Gakpo, has a price tag in the £60m region.
There are other plates spinning, however, and a feeling the forward players already at the club will benefit from strengthening the back four and midfield. James Maddison will return as a creative force, although long-term absentees Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski are unlikely to be ready to go on day one of pre-season. Care and caution will be required with Kulusevski after more than a year out with a knee injury.
Time to work
Most of the team due back on Friday, July 10 for tests before pre-season training gets under way on Monday 13. There will be a behind closed doors friendly against Milton Keynes Dons before a three-game tour to New Zealand and Australia, which involves a game against Chelsea in Sydney on August 1.
De Zerbi should have a strong squad to work with on tour. Senior players including Maddison, Gallagher, Dominic Solanke and Richarlison failed to make the World Cup due to fitness and form. Others such as Destiny Udogie and Dubravka did not qualify. Others were eliminated before the end of June, including Micky van de Ven, Bentancur and new signings Robertson and Van Hecke.
