One of the Tottenham head coach’s former players has been speaking about the changes to come under the Italian at the north London club
Roberto De Zerbi has a big summer ahead of him at Tottenham(Image: Getty Images)
There will be a “massive change” at Tottenham under Roberto De Zerbi because the club must trust him like Arsenal did with Mikel Arteta, believes Sandro, who played for both the Italian and Spurs.
De Zerbi has already made a big splash at the north London side after being parachuted in late in the season and leading the club to 11 points from their final six matches to keep them in the Premier League at the expense of West Ham. That saved Tottenham’s dignity and around £250million in potential lost revenue which means the 46-year-old will have a big say in how the club moves forward into a new era under him.
Former Tottenham midfielder Sandro, who played under De Zerbi at Italian side Benevento, believes that after having four head coaches at the helm within a year, his club must trust their new one in the same way as the Premier League champions did to success down the road.
“It will be a massive change, because now we have the idea of the philosophy. Football has changed, because people just want to be successful, but Tottenham, we have always played attacking football and we need to have someone that has the same idea and philosophy.
“Of course you’re playing in the Premier League, it’s not just attack, attack and you have to be clever, you need to control the game. Guardiola for example, you can’t be more attacking than Guardiola, it’s impossible, but it’s very clever. We need to be balanced, attacking and direct, but be ready when we need to defend, and be ready to drop everybody back and really defend,” said Sandro, speaking exclusively to Reach PLC ahead of the World Cup thanks to betFIRST sport.
The Brazilian added: “In the beginning of Arteta managing Arsenal, everybody was criticising him saying, ‘Arteta should leave, Arteta should leave’, but Edu kept him. And Edu said he needed to buy the players that Arteta needed, that the players that were in the squad were not for Arteta’s style, so he would give him more time, give him more years, give him the players he needs for his style of football; and look at the transition that Arsenal have done.
“Just look at Arsenal now! It’s just football, it’s not like you can click and everything will happen. No. You have to have the right idea, the first thing is to have the right idea, with the right manager for the team, and then give him the players he needs. And Arsenal did that.
“But I’m telling you now, Tottenham are going to be a success in two to three years’ time. We are going to be a success.”
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Sandro, who did some coaching work experience under De Zerbi at Brighton, believes that Spurs need attacking additions in the summer transfer window and is happy with the links to his compatriot Manchester City winger Savinho. At the same time he believes another Brazilian and an Argentinean could depart from N17 in the coming months.
“For two seasons we have struggled, but now I’m very confident that De Zerbi will help Spurs, will build the club again and I think he will find the right players because he’s so passionate and he already knows what he’s going to do,” said the 37-year-old.
“We need to strengthen the attack, with wingers and a striker, because players will probably leave, like Richarlison probably will leave. Players that we need, I heard a lot about Savinho coming in as a winger, and we need to focus on these places and that kind of player. Defenders, I don’t know but Romero will probably leave as well, and we need to strengthen that central defence zone as well.”
On Richarlison leaving, he went on: “Richarlison is the reason Tottenham stayed in the league, but I don’t know because it’s his contract that only has one year left. But if he leaves, we need one more striker and I’m not sure who, but we need to look at the market very closely because you know how business is. If you get business done early, you can do better business.
“We should get players in our mind and we should sign them before the media realise what’s happening and it’s done. The Eze situation [last summer] is for us to learn from.”
Sandro pointed to another Brazilian as the type of attacking player that Tottenham should have gone for in the past.
“From before, the striker from Real Madrid, that was in Lyon in France, Endrick. That kind of striker, we need an absolute top, top striker, you know, but in Brazil, I don’t think we don’t have any up and coming strikers like he was a few years ago,” said the former QPR man.
“But we need to find a striker who can be at that level. A loan move could potentially be good, but it depends on the World Cup, his value could go way up. But he’s one of the guys that we needed, you know? We needed someone like him.”