Roberto De Zerbi believes Tottenham have "big potential" to challenge for the title after a summer transfer window that has seen the club spend heavily.
The Spurs boss said he will not know whether his new-look squad are the real deal until after the transfer window shuts. But after a huge spending spree, which is set to go over £300million with the arrival of Manchester City pair Savinho and Omar Marmoush, De Zerbi insists they have the quality to be genuine challengers.
That would be a huge leap from finishing 17th in each of the last two seasons, but De Zerbi is full of optimism after a busy summer.
De Zerbi: The pitch speaks
De Zerbi said: "Big potential. At the end of the transfer market, I will be more accurate in my opinion.
"Maybe we will know now. Maybe we have to see on the pitch. To be honest everyone we are very excited but in the end the pitch speaks, as we say in Italian. If we start now with big words, I love pressure. It's not a problem of pressure, but if we are to be honest and correct, we have to wait for the answer from the pitch.
"Football is a connection. Football is like magic. You can sometimes find the connection between players when every player thinks like the coach or we come together with an idea of football and the players who don't start in the team are the biggest fans of the players who are playing. We have to create something on the pitch and off the pitch to compete like we want."
New signings and leadership group
De Zerbi insists the club's first £100m player, Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali, is even better than he realised. They have also brought in Mateus Fernandes and John Paul van Hecke to bolster the squad.
This week De Zerbi insisted he was aiming to reach the top and, while wary of setting targets, he admitted the team is now getting close to what he wants. De Zerbi said: "On paper its very close. On the pitch we have to see and we have to work. I am experienced enough not to say too much. I'm very happy with the squad.
"We have to complete the squad but at the moment I am very happy. The answer I receive from the pitch has to be like my dreams and my thoughts with the board. I have to keep the balance because sometimes the transfer market - with Tonali and JP Van Hecke - we bring in a lot.
"But if we have to push then I will be the first to push, to fix the target higher but now is not the right moment. Now is the moment to think about Brentford and to complete the transfer market. Then we can fix what target you want without arrogance but also with big ambitions because this is Tottenham, not another smaller team."
De Zerbi joked that the past three months of rebuild have felt more like "10 years" but also stressed the near miss of relegation last season must serve as a reminder.
Five captains and clear targets
Tottenham have named not just one new captain after Cristian Romero's departure, but five, with Micky van de Ven, Pedro Porro, Ben Davies, James Maddison and Archie Gray in a leadership group. Van de Ven will wear the armband when fit.
De Zerbi added: "I think we can't forget what happened last season. It's a lesson, a big lesson for us, for every one of us. But anyway, we have to go on another page and to start another season, an important season.
"We are building, I think, a new project. And now the big challenge, without talking too much about the target, the goal of this season, the first two targets we have very clear in ourselves is to find the soul of the team.
"And the second target: to improve in our organisation of football. With the ball, without the ball, our style has to be the key of our season, like our soul. These two characteristics I want to find as soon as possible."
