Roberto De Zerbi is wasting little time in getting Tottenham ready for the start of the next Premier League season. The 2025/26 campaign was one to forget for the north Londoners, who only escaped relegation with a couple of games to spare following a disastrous period for the club. After a number of manager changes across the term, the former Brighton man is the one charged with getting Spurs back up the table and back in the conversation for European football.
Free agent signings bolster defence
The Italian manager has already signed Liverpool's Andy Robertson on a free transfer, a shrewd bit of business to add someone of the Scot's experience to a backline that was all at sea last season. Bournemouth's Marcos Senesi also looks to be high on their wanted list, and he is also available on a free transfer. Meanwhile, the club have had two bids knocked back for Brighton's Jan Paul van Hecke in the last few days.
Brighton demand £70m for Van Hecke
The Seagulls value the defender at around £70 million, and the club expect Spurs to return with another offer. Chairman Paul Barber told talkSPORT: "There's always going to be a lot of interest in our best players, and certainly in the case of Jan Paul. We've been very clear that that interest has been ongoing for a while, it's coming from multiple sources. Yes, we have rejected a bid from Tottenham over the last week or so, in fact, two bids. From that point of view, it has to be right for us as well as the player."
Barber added: "We have to be in a position to make the best trades to suit our model and also to make sure that we're supporting Fabian [Hurzeler], because he's got another big season ahead of him. He's had two seasons in the Premier League, he's finished eighth on both occasions, this time we've been fortunate enough to qualify for a European competition. We want to go as deep in that competition as we can, while also doing well in the Premier League. To do that, we need to make sure Fabian's got the best possible squad and we've got the right balance between the young players that typically we like to bring in and develop, and the more experienced players like Pascal Gross and others, who can actually help us progress in all of the competitions that we're in. As always, it's a balancing act, and hopefully this summer we can work hard to pull it off again."
Ben Davies' future uncertain
Defensive additions at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium would leave the future of Wales skipper Ben Davies in limbo. Davies' contract expires at the end of the month, with the defensive lynchpin having been sidelined for months due to an ankle injury he sustained in January. Club favourite Gary Mabbutt believes he still has a role to play at the club. "Ben's a great lad," said Spurs great Mabbutt. "What he has given to the club so far… it was just so unfortunate the injury he received. It was devastating for him and for us because Ben's a player you can always rely on. Certainly I hope something will be done with his contract, whether it be still on the playing side or maybe looking a bit more to the future, but hopefully still with Tottenham Hotspur."
Mabbutt recognised, however, that the squad needs a major makeover. "We have to bring in, I would say, a number of big players to change the squad," he told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast. "We need to change the level we are at. The ambition of the club is incredible and yet it's not been reflected in the way things have happened in the last couple of seasons. A lot of work has to be done."
