Marlon Santos has worked with some of the greatest coaches in world football.
He started his career at Fluminense, where he developed under Abel Braga, who coached seven of Brazil’s ‘Big 12’ clubs over a 40-year management career across Europe and South America. He left Rio de Janeiro for Barcelona, joining Luis Enrique, who is considered one of the best — if not the best — coaches in the world after winning back-to-back Champions Leagues with Paris Saint-Germain.
But for Marlon, who Roberto De Zerbi signed at Sassuolo before being taken with him to Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, the Tottenham Hotspur head coach is one of a kind.
“I have been with Luis Enrique, Arda Turan, Lucien Favre; they’re great, top coaches,” Marlon, a centre-back who returned to Shakhtar in 2025 after spells in Italy, Brazil and MLS in recent seasons, tells The Athletic. “But De Zerbi, he gives more time. He was always working on details with me. He changed my identity as a footballer.”
There’s not much to say about De Zerbi that hasn’t already been said — much of which by some of his most celebrated peers. Pep Guardiola famously described him as “one of the most influential managers in the last 20 years”, and he has received compliments from many others at the top of the coaching game, including Jurgen Klopp and newly-appointed Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso.
While De Zerbi says the plaudits “embarrass” him, he clearly brings something unique to the table.
Take it from Adam Lallana, who De Zerbi instantly wowed at Brighton and Hove Albion.
“He’s just made football (make) so much more sense to me since he’s been here,” the former England international midfielder, turned coach of Southampton’s Under-21s, told The Athletic in 2023. “I knew what I enjoyed about football and the feeling I got when I was doing it or was involved in a team doing it, but he’s given me reasons for that.
“He’s just made it all make sense, and that’s the tactical input that he’s taught me.
“He’s given substance to it: ‘This is why you are doing this, so that you can have this’.”
Before De Zerbi begins working with his players tactically, he aims to connect with them as people. The tactical instructions were brief and simple for Tottenham last season, as they narrowly avoided the drop, with De Zerbi focusing on building a positive mindset and unity within a group whose confidence was shot by ruinous spells under Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor.
After picking his players up off the floor (literally, in some cases) following the 1-0 defeat to Sunderland in his first game in charge, De Zerbi organised a meal at Bacchanalia, a Greek and Mediterranean restaurant in the high-end area of Mayfair in London. He encouraged the squad to mingle and forget their troubles for a night with the aid of alcohol, which he described as “good medicine,” providing a springboard for their improved performances and eventual Premier League salvation.
Finding common ground and projecting a positive vibe is at the heart of his coaching success, and many players view him as exceptional in that regard.
“On a personal level, Roberto is a very, very good guy,” says Marlon. “When you come to one of his teams, he makes you immediately feel like you are part of a family. He had different staff during my time working with him, but they worked together really well and developed the same connection, symphony, and frequency with each other and with the team. They made it easy for the players. Robbie has a feeling for team atmosphere.
“I always think about how much he cared. He was careful with my family, with everyone’s family. He loves people. He’s human, you know? He leaves such a good impression.”
Yet De Zerbi’s ability to build an “easy” association with his players does not make him any less demanding. Like Marlon, Jan Paul van Hecke is a centre-back whom De Zerbi has taken from one club to another. As he does with many of his favoured students, De Zerbi refers to Van Hecke as his “son”, but their relationship was not always plain sailing. According to the Netherlands international, they clashed in their early days working together because “he had such a way of playing, and I needed to get used to it”.
They came out on the other side with a tight bond, with Van Hecke rapidly improving on the south coast once he developed the tactical understanding to thrive within De Zerbi’s system, but it does not always end so positively.
De Zerbi made headlines around the world with his acrimonious ending at French side Marseille, where he spent around 18 months after leaving Brighton in 2024. In his first season, De Zerbi had a training-ground bust-up with Ismael Kone, telling the Canada midfielder to “take a shower” and call his agent, and Kone moved on loan to Rennes in the following transfer window. Early last year, he publicly criticised defender Amir Murillo’s “hunger” after Marseille conceded late twice in a 2-2 draw with Paris FC, and he was promptly sold to Besiktas.
While his critics use these instances as perceived evidence of a combustible and perhaps unreliable nature, his supporters can point to his many disciples who are willing to offer a glowing reference. Put simply, if you come to training with a smile on your face and you execute his demands, he will shower you with praise. In his short time as Spurs boss, he has described Micky van de Ven as the best left-sided centre-back in the Premier League and labelled Pedro Porro the best right-back in the world. Both have signed new contracts at the club this summer, something that appeared hugely unlikely during the lows of last season.
“Roberto makes you feel a million dollars,” Lallana said. “As long as you follow him, there’s no problem with you making a mistake. That’s the art of good management.”
Upon De Zerbi’s arrival at Tottenham on March 31, most would have expected Antonin Kinsky to need his man-management more than anyone. The Czech goalkeeper was infamously hooked after just 18 minutes in the 5-2 Champions League round of 16 first-leg defeat to Atletico Madrid by interim boss Tudor, after he made two errors leading to goals.
Owing to hernia surgery for previous No 1 Guglielmo Vicario, Kinsky was given another opportunity to prove himself in De Zerbi’s first game against Sunderland, and the Italian admitted after a 1-0 win over Everton on the final day of the season that he considered making Kinsky his captain at the Stadium of Light. On reflection, Kinsky is glad he didn’t: he was just happy to receive his vote of confidence.
“Honestly, I have to say, I’m quite happy he didn’t do it,” Kinsky said. “I think he wanted to encourage me after what happened. On the other hand, I think when he came, he knew me; he knew that I don’t need any encouragement. All I need is to hear that he is confident in me, that he trusts in me, and that he gives me some time on the pitch.”
De Zerbi recognised what Kinsky needed, and he duly excelled. He was outstanding during the Italian’s seven games in the dugout at the end of last season, making several world-class saves and impressing as a distributor. Kinsky plays a high-risk style as a playmaker between the sticks, a role that suits De Zerbi’s philosophy tactically and mentally. As Lallana mentions, the Italian liberates his players from the fear of making mistakes, which allows Kinsky to demonstrate his talent to the fullest and earn the trust and faith of his coaches, team-mates and fans again.
“What he says to me definitely gives me the confidence,” he said. “If you don’t feel the confidence, you might play a bit more safe. If you feel the confidence, you can play to the best of your ability. If I know that he supports me and he believes in me, then of course I feel well on the pitch. In certain situations where there is risk, it makes it easier to take a bit more. Go more to the edge. I think this is sometimes where the difference in the games is made. This is definitely, definitely important.”
“He forces you to believe in yourself and be the best version on the pitch. Not to try to play safe; try to play. (Let’s say) I or anyone makes two bad passes or something. The next time, maybe I make an easy pass. But (under De Zerbi) no. It’s like you made two good passes. If the intention was good, then it’s just about the ability. Sometimes the ball can bounce or whatever; something can happen.
“But (we are encouraged to) play as best as we can and enjoy the game. If you combine these two things, focusing on playing as best you can and enjoying the game, that enables you to perform at your best level. I think this is always his message, above all the tactics.”
As much as his players emphasise the human element, De Zerbi has made his name as an elite tactician. But while many of the game’s great tacticians have a reputation for requiring unquestioning consent, almost robotising their players, De Zerbi revels in transmitting his footballing philosophy to his squad, allowing them to see the game through his lens. In the early days, he does this through an intense schedule on the grass and in the film room on the training ground.
“Details, for him, change everything,” says Marlon. “When you have one game a week, he sometimes makes two periods of training in the morning, and also two times in the afternoon. It’s all about intensity.
“He is so smart. He has a philosophy, and for sure he adapts to different teams, but he does not change it. He works on individual tactics, but inside a collective tactical (framework). I was really struck by the fact that he didn’t change, yet managed to stick to his ideas even in matches against opponents using different tactical setups.”
Tottenham have looked more like a De Zerbi team in pre-season, as he has had more time to convey his ideas to his players in a less pressurised, less time-constrained environment. Before that, he flipped Spurs’ fortunes and kept them in the Premier League against the odds, convinced Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes to eschew the advances of Manchester City and Manchester United, respectively, and played his part in securing Van de Ven and Porro to long-term deals despite interest from elsewhere.
Whether his special sauce is his tactical genius or ability to connect with players, or something in between, wherever De Zerbi goes, he leaves a huge impression.
“With him, I learned so much about football,” says Marlon. “He changed my mood and my view of the game. He has given me so much. I am so grateful. With Roberto, only good things.”