Roberto De Zerbi has told Tottenham's players they can leave if they are unhappy after the club's £300million-plus summer spending spree.
Tottenham are closing in on an £85m deal for Brazilian winger Savinho and are also set to sign his Manchester City teammate Omar Marmoush.
Record-breaking summer
They have broken the £100m barrier to sign Italy star Sandro Tonali and spent big on Jan Paul van Hecke and Mateus Fernandes. But it will turn up the competition for places with the likes of Richarlison and Pape Matar Sarr unlikely to be regular starters.
Spurs boss De Zerbi, though, insisted the club had to spend big after two successive 17th place finishes and flirtations with relegation.
'They can leave'
De Zerbi said: “I love speaking clearly. Today is August 21st, I think every one of those players, they already know the squad. If one of them doesn’t want to accept the competition inside the pitch, inside the dressing room, they can leave.
“I try to be honest and to make the better decision I can on the pitch to find the best first XI. But the players have to accept why because if we want to become better, if we want to compete for the top of the table, 11 players are not enough, 15 players are not enough.
“If you analyse the teams Liverpool two years ago, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Milan, the squad there is a big competition inside the dressing room.
“We have to move on and stay focused on this. In sport or football, every day is a different challenge, you can’t keep the memories with you.
Rising up the table
“The memories are nice at the end of your career when you stop and look at what you have done. But now we have to push. We have a big challenge to rise up the table.”
Marmoush is set to follow Savinho into Tottenham but it is likely to be a lesser fee. City bought him for £59m in 2025 but have to pay his former club Eintracht Frankfurt a cut of any future profit.
