Roberto De Zerbi described Savio's Tottenham debut as "the perfect day" for the Brazilian after he came off the bench to score in Spurs' 5-1 Carabao Cup rout of Charlton.
Spurs had already built a commanding 3-0 lead when Savio, signed in an £85million deal from Manchester City on Tuesday, was introduced to rapturous applause at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Savio's dream start
Yet in just over 20 minutes on the pitch, Savio stole the show, hurdling several challenges on the edge of the box before firing low past Charlton goalkeeper Tiernan Brooks. The 22-year-old then thought he had scored a quickfire double as he jinked his way through a crowded penalty box and fired at goal, only to see his shot deflect off Ben Davies and into the back of the net.
It was a dream start for Savio and De Zerbi, who has said he wants Savio to add more goals to his game, praised Spurs' latest signing on an evening when his side put to bed some of the disappointment of last weekend's defeat to Brentford.
De Zerbi's goal demand
"Yes, it is a perfect day for him. I think his biggest step and biggest improvement is to increase the number of goals because (with) his qualities he is one of the best wingers. But the best wingers score many goals. I spoke with him yesterday, two days ago. We put the goal on 10-12 goals because we need 10-12 goals from the wingers. Last season, I think we suffered too much. Also because the number of goals were not enough to compete for nothing more than that position."
Before Savio entered the fray, it was Mikey Moore who had been running proceedings, having opened the scoring with a powerful left-footed drive.
Moore's future in balance
The 19-year-old's future remains in doubt, with loan interest from German outfit Koln, and De Zerbi added it was important the club make the right decision before deadline day.
"It is important for him, it is important for us because he is our player from the academy and in this day we have to understand what the best solution is for him, for us because I would like to keep him because he is young but a good player," De Zerbi continued. "But we can't (make) the wrong decision because anyway he needs to play and put games inside of him. With Johan Lange and Vinai we have to find the best solution."
