Roberto De Zerbi claims Tottenham are on the verge of a “bomba” signing and suggested it would be an attacking player.
Spurs have already spent almost £230million this summer on Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes and Jan Paul van Hecke, as well as bringing in free agents Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi on high wages, to bolster a squad that has limped to successive 17th-placed finishes in the Premier League.
Last season’s narrow escape appears to have altered the mindset in North London and the board have provided plenty of backing for De Zerbi, and the Italian claims the spending is not over yet.
Speaking on the pre-season tour of Australia – Spurs take on Chelsea in Sydney on Saturday – he said: “The transfer market is not finished for sure, but we have completed 60% of our project. Now we have another bomba.”
Having confirmed the player in question was an attacker, and not long-time target Savinho, he added: “I don’t love working with plan A, plan B, plan C. It is plan A, full stop, because all players are not the same. We have to increase the number of goals.”
De Zerbi was not willing to reveal the identity of the target but the likes of former Barcelona loanee Marcus Rashford, Rafael Leao and Cody Gakpo have been linked with the club in recent weeks.
Romero’s ‘will’ to leave Tottenham
As well as players coming in, there is expected to be plenty of movement the other way with Lucas Bergvall likely to depart along with captain Cristian Romero while the future of England full-back Djed Spence remains uncertain.
Spence’s stock has risen following an excellent World Cup and he has been linked with Everton and Inter Milan.
De Zerbi has said previously he will only work with players who want to be at Tottenham, and he repeated that message again, adding: “I repeat what I said to Djed, and to Lucas. I would like you to stay if you want to stay. If you don’t want to stay, if you want to leave, then you have to leave.”
Romero appears certain to move on. The Argentina defender has attracted plenty of criticism during his time at Spurs but De Zerbi says Romero has shown “unbelievable behaviour” since he joined the club in March but it is his “will” to leave.
“At the beginning of my time in April I had, I don’t know, one million individual meetings. And the players told me if they are [staying] here [or not],” he said.
“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.’”
