Transfer 'shark' De Zerbi hopes to drag Spurs up from depths

There was a moment last season when Roberto de Zerbi turned to his Tottenham players and asked: "Did we pass away?"

The scenes after his first game in charge - a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland - painted a grim picture.

In the dressing room, De Zerbi said players were lying on their backs, some crying following the loss at the Stadium of Light.

It was the first of seven matches De Zerbi had to keep Spurs in the Premier League.

While survival was only secured on the final day, the 47-year-old now believes he can help the club rise from the ignominy of a turbulent 2025-26 campaign.

Four months on from the broken dressing room in Sunderland, the contrast is stark.

At the team's hotel in Sydney for their pre-season tour, just a stone's throw from the Harbour Bridge and iconic Opera House, De Zerbi's players are laughing, smiling and enjoying coffees made by their own barista on a private floor.

Competitive table tennis matches are taking place as a club-record £237m worth of new signings integrate into a squad dreaming of a return to the upper echelons of English football and a renewed challenge for trophies.

Club-record signing Sandro Tonali, plus new arrivals Mateus Fernandes, Jan Paul van Hecke, Andrew Robertson and Martin Dubravka have all featured on Spurs' pre-season tour.

After featuring for Argentina in the World Cup final, Marcos Senesi was granted extended leave and is the only new recruit not to have featured in Australia and New Zealand, but has now begun training at Hotspur Way.

"I deserve to want the top players, because now Tottenham deserves to build up a top team," De Zerbi said.

It was an unusual position for Spurs, but they had two transfer plans: one for relegation and one for survival.

De Zerbi, who reiterates he would have continued managing Spurs in the Championship, is happy to be working from Plan A, including "respecting the will" of players such as club captain Cristian Romero and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who could yet leave.

"At the beginning of my time in April I had one million individual meetings," he jokes. "They told me if they didn't want to be here. I said: 'Yes, help me to stay up, and then I help you to leave.

"'If you don't help me to stay up, you stay underwater with me'."

'In the transfer market I become like a shark'

Spurs have undergone radical change over the past 12 months amid understandable fan anger, with new chief executive Vinai Venkatesham leading the organisation on behalf of the Lewis Family Trust.

Venkatesham, alongside technical director Johan Lange, is leading negotiations. Lange is the only senior figure from the previous regime to remain in post.

They are supported by director of football operations Rafi Moersen and new performance director Dan Lewindon, both of whom arrived from Manchester City's parent company, City Football Group.

Lewindon has been tasked with improving Spurs' injury record.

But De Zerbi is hands on in all areas of the club and says "in the transfer market, when I want one player, I become like a shark.

That approach has helped secure record deals for £85m Fernandes from West Ham and £100m Tonali from Newcastle.

"I love working in the transfer market. It's not a pressure, it's one of the nicest parts in my work, in my job," he explained.

But where does that enjoyment come from?

"I don't know, maybe because when you take the decision, you take the responsibility. If the coach calls the player, you can build a special connection at the beginning.

"With Mateus Fernandes, I spoke with the mum, with the father."

De Zerbi told Fernandes' father that he would be his "second dad" and look after him in England.

Spurs also signed defender Van Hecke despite reported interest from Chelsea, having already beaten Manchester United and Manchester City to the two record-breaking midfielders.

Transfers are a world of game theory. Insiders have told BBC Sport that Spurs knew they had to be both aggressive and quick, with the first quality likely extending to fees, wages and De Zerbi's personal involvement in courting players.

After the 2-2 draw with Brighton in April, in which Georginio Rutter scored a 95th-minute equaliser to dent Spurs' survival hopes, De Zerbi revealed he messaged Van Hecke, who assisted the goal.

"You wanted to push down Tottenham for Brighton when you made the assist to Rutter, now you have to come to me, you have no choice," De Zerbi revealed.

For Tonali, De Zerbi detailed how he texted him the day after Spurs secured their Premier League status with a final-day win over Everton, before meeting him at his home in Brescia in what proved to be a decisive conversation.