Tottenham shattered their transfer record to prise Italy international Tonali from Newcastle United \u2013 forking out around $192million AUD<\/a>. Spurs are not known for their spending habits \u2013 preferring to stick to a budget and wage structure, something Ange Postecoglou found out all too well and discussed at depth on a recent appearance on Sky\u2019s The Overlap, despite ending the club\u2019s 17-year title drought via the 2024-25 UEFA Europa League.<\/p>\nDe Zerbi has completely overhauled Tottenham\u2019s midfield with Tonali and Fernandes, both who were also linked with Manchester United. With a new tactical blueprint, it allows Spurs to transition away from a flat midfield to a more fluid approach. <\/p>\n
That is before you even get to Conor Gallagher, who is already on the books following a disappointing first season at Tottenham while fellow Englishman James Maddison is reportedly set to be named captain.<\/p>\n
But they are not done yet in the transfer market as they prepare to grace Australian shores for Sydney Super Cup fixtures against Sydney FC (July 29) and London rivals Chelsea (August 1).<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we are building a very good team, with some very important new players, and we are starting the project in another part of the history of the club,\u201d De Zerbi said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent a lot of time [understanding the club] before joining in April and I knew very well the ideas of the owner of the club and the plan was clear before the Everton game.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we are inside [the project], we are excited about the idea of building a very strong team.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have to finish, as it\u2019s not finished yet, our transfer market, in and out, but at the moment I\u2019m very happy, very proud and very positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tottenham have ripped up the script as they look to banish the demons of 2025-26, which saw Spurs appoint Thomas Frank as Postecoglou\u2019s replacement only to sack the Dane eight months later.<\/p>\n
Igor Tudor was then named as interim head coach, but he only lasted 44 days and seven matches in charge. Desperate to preserve their top-flight status, they turned to De Zerbi, who helped claw Tottenham two points clear of the drop zone.<\/p>\n
De Zerbi is no stranger to the Premier League. The Italian made waves at Brighton and Hove Albion before leaving for French giants Marseille in 2024. He is known for his entertaining and high-pressing style of football, and has previously given a nod to Australian pioneer Postecoglou.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to see again the Tottenham I watched with Postecoglou,\u201d De Zerbi told reporters previously.<\/p>\n
Tottenham will kick off their Premier League campaign at Brentford on August 23 (AEST) but fans will have a glimpse of De Zerbi\u2019s new-look Spurs Down Under.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo build a soul, to build a new team with the qualities for sure but with soul, with passion, with all the values we have. Football now is not just on the pitch, it\u2019s not just with the ball, it\u2019s before in the private life, it\u2019s how many hours during the day you think you\u2019re doing your job and they have to be happy and proud to stay in Tottenham,\u201d De Zerbi said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cLast season, I think we reached the target showing character, showing the right spirit,\u201d he explained. \u201cNow we have to push in the style of play, the quality of the play and the organisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was totally different because the seven games at the end of the season you have no time. It\u2019s not the right way to push too much the principles of play.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have time, we have everything in the right way, right place and the right position to work and to become better and better and better in the quality of play.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Tottenham deserve to compete for the top of the Premier League. I know very well the Premier League is very tough but if you have a good motivation inside of the players, a good organisation on the pitch and outside of the pitch, I think you work well and at the end you reach your target.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel a big responsibility because they (the fans) loved me at the beginning in my time at Tottenham and it is a pleasure to be Tottenham coach. At the same time, I feel responsibility to give results, to give pride when they are in the stands and when we are on the pitch and to build a great Tottenham.\u201d<\/p>\n
Your Next Read<\/p>\n
\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2285596723-scaled-e1784685029432-400x304.webp\")
\n\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is an iconic photo associated with Tottenham. It dates back to 2013 when Spurs had just sold…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,241612,207544,85,394164,967],"class_list":["post-818333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-roberto-de-zerbi","tag-sandro-tonali","tag-sports","tag-sydney-super-cup","tag-tottenham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784794270_583_image-3.png\")
Tottenham\u2019s \u2018Magnificent 7\u2019 in 2013<\/p>\n