A transfer window playing out exactly as you imagined is a privilege reserved for a select few at football’s top table.
While the rest of the world responds to movements made elsewhere, the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City can reasonably expect to secure most, if not all, of their summer targets without many hiccups. Judging by how this summer is unfolding, we may soon have to add Tottenham Hotspur to that shortlist.
OK, that may be a touch optimistic, but Tottenham have operated like a club with serious intentions to compete for silverware and European qualification next season.
With historic underperformance in back-to-back Premier League campaigns, this summer was always going to be a busy one in the blue and white half of north London, and Spurs still have plenty of business to do in forward areas, where transfer fees are particularly inflated, and elite talent is not readily available. Still, their additions in defence and midfield with pedigree have set a strong precedent for what is yet to come.
That said, perhaps their most important addition in recent months remains head coach Roberto De Zerbi, whose marked shift in communication was at the heart of their successful efforts to stave off relegation. Without the Italian, it’s fair to say Tottenham would be in a different league today, with a less glamorous list of transfer targets and short of a character in the dugout with the charisma and cachet to land them.
While his psychological revolution must remain central to Tottenham’s continued reversal of their protracted slide and habit of losing matches too easily, De Zerbi now has the talent at his disposal to display his tactical chops.
Backed by the majority-owner Lewis family, Spurs have spent £185million on furnishing their engine room with two of the Premier League’s most in-demand midfielders, Sandro Tonali (£100m; initial £92.5m, with £7.5m in proposed add-ons) and Mateus Fernandes (£85m), gazumping City and Manchester United, respectively, in the process.
De Zerbi has typically operated with a double pivot across his managerial career, and immediately implemented that system at Tottenham despite last season’s previous head coaches Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor experimenting with alternatives in a desperate attempt to manufacture any on-field chemistry. So, having first impressed for Milan in a double pivot, Tonali will now join Fernandes to form a new-look midfield base with the technical, physical and tactical capacity to dominate matches in the Premier League.
The changes De Zerbi made in midfield were the most important on-field adjustments over his seven-game spell last term. Spurs evolved from a side who did not press well and could not progress the ball through the middle of the pitch through Frank’s miserable period and Tudor’s hapless interlude, to a side who tried to do exactly those things.
The standout performance of the De Zerbi era so far, the 2-1 away win against Aston Villa on May 3, was built on the back of Conor Gallagher, Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha swarming the opposition in their defensive third, while they found solutions through Bentancur’s press resistance and Pedro Porro pushing ahead of Palhinha to be effective with the ball.
And while that unit competed well, particularly without possession, to earn a crucial three points, Tonali and Fernandes should offer more with the ball than “Bentinha” did.
Fernandes led the Premier League with 13 line-breaking passes leading to a shot last season, while only seven players made more than his 25 line-breaking passes that led to a cross. He may even be a better dribbler than a passer, as he frequently received the ball from defenders or the goalkeeper at West Ham United before driving past his markers and carrying it into the opposition half.
His tendency to receive a pass and take off inside his own defensive third is tailor-made for De Zerbi, whose Marseille and Brighton & Hove Albion teams worked to bait opposition players into pressing them in the final third before breaking through it with incisive passing or a driving run. With Antonin Kinsky, one of the Premier League’s most capable ball-playing goalkeepers, in the team and the recent addition of Brighton centre-back Jan Paul van Hecke, expect to see far more risk-taking from Tottenham in their own defensive third, made possible by a dynamic midfield duo.
Tonali will play his part, too, offering many of the same qualities as his expected new running mate.
Like Fernandes, the 26-year-old is not just a ball-winner, a line-breaking passer and lung-busting runner: he’s everything, everywhere, all at once in the midfield. His athleticism and defensive anticipation were viewed as a cheat code by Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe, who relied on Tonali’s recovery pace and physicality to snuff out opposition transition opportunities.
Fortunately, given their recent track record with fitness issues, Tottenham have signed a pair with an impressive availability history. Tonali was behind only Malick Thiaw in minutes and matches played across all competitions last season for Newcastle, while 22-year-old Fernandes has not suffered a significant injury in his professional career.
It will be needed too, as De Zerbi requires a lot from his midfielders.
He often directs his pivot to use man-to-man marking in the opponents’ half, perhaps the most physically taxing out-of-possession strategy, and the ability of Tonali and Fernandes to follow their markers and cover space will be as integral to Spurs’ success next season as anything they produce with the ball. That win at Villa Park was Tottenham’s finest display of structural unity and coherence without the ball all season aside from the 2-0 win away to City in the August under Frank, and Fernandes and Tonali are set up well to continue, and even improve upon, their efforts.
Ahead of them, Tottenham are well furnished with creative options, with Mohammed Kudus set to return from a January thigh injury for pre-season and James Maddison’s road to full fitness boosted by a couple of promising cameos from the bench late last season, while remaining forward additions should help to fill the void of long-term anterior cruciate ligament absentees Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons.
Gallagher was extremely effective as a No 10 that day against Villa, and could be an option to reprise the role in the new season, particularly in away matches where Spurs may see less of the ball and place greater emphasis on chance creation through their press. Pape Matar Sarr was also excellent in that role in the win at City, though he and Lucas Bergvall could be candidates to depart in this window, having barely featured under De Zerbi since he walked through the training ground doors on March 30.
And while Fernandes and Tonali appear set to be De Zerbi’s first-choice pivot for the present and future, Bentancur and Archie Gray are very capable deputies, and should not be undermined.
Bentancur was crucial as Tottenham improved under the Italian to stave off relegation and is a more-than-capable Premier League midfielder. As Spurs endeavour to add more trophies to their cabinet, a pivot of him and Gray, with the latter in reserve for cup matches and deputising and rotating in case of injury or from the bench, is a strong sign that they are set up to be well stocked for all eventualities in midfield next term.
Rightfully, excitement is building.
The defence is done, and the midfield may well be sorted, too.
If Tottenham can be as decisive in securing reinforcements in the attacking third before the window closes on September 1, who knows what next season could bring?