Tottenham have confirmed the appointment of Roberto De Zerbi as their new head coach.
De Zerbi, 46, who had been out of work after leaving Marseille in February, has signed a lucrative five-year contract at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. With that, the Italian is reported to have become the third-highest paid manager in the Premier League behind Arsenal's Mikel Arteta and Manchester City's Pep Guardiola.
He has replaced Igor Tudor, who was sacked on Sunday following a disastrous 44-day reign in north London, and has been first tasked with keeping the club in the Premier League.
Tottenham have endured a horrendous season so far and sit 17th in the table, just one point and one place above West Ham in 18th. Indeed, Spurs have failed to win any of their last 13 top-flight matches and there is now a real danger that they could be relegated to the Championship.
De Zerbi has seven games to preserve Tottenham's top-flight status, with his first competitive game as the club's head coach scheduled to be a trip to Sunderland on Sunday, April 12.
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Speaking after his appointment, De Zerbi said: "I am delighted to be joining this fantastic football club, which is one of the biggest and most prestigious in the world.
"In all my discussions with the club's leadership, their ambition for the future has been clear – to build a team capable of reaching great achievements, and to do that playing a style of football that excites and inspires our supporters. I am here because I believe in that ambition and have signed a long-term contract to give everything to deliver it.
"Our short-term priority is to climb the Premier League table, which will be the complete focus until the final whistle of the last game of the season. I’m looking forward to getting out on the training pitch and working with these players to achieve that."
Tottenham sporting director Johan Lange added: "Roberto was our number one target for the summer and we are very pleased to be able to bring him in now.
"He is one of the most creative and forward-thinking coaches in world football, and brings with him a wealth of experience at the highest level, including in the Premier League."
De Zerbi started his managerial career at Italian side Darfo Boario in 2013. He then spent time at Foggia, Palermo and Benevento before establishing himself at Sassuolo, where he cemented them as a competitive Serie A outfit and earned a move to Champions League Shakhtar Donetsk in 2021.
But De Zerbi would spent just one season in Ukraine before leaving and then moving to Brighton in 2022. He did a terrific job at the Amex Stadium, guiding them to a sixth-place Premier League finish in his first season and securing a spot in Europe for the first time in the club's history.
While his second season wasn't as successful, De Zerbi helped Brighton through the group stage of the Europa League before they were knocked out in the Round of 16 against Roma. He quit the Seagulls at the end of the 2023/24 season after an agreement was reached to terminate his contract.
De Zerbi was appointed as Marseille's new manager in June 2024 and he made quite the impact at the French club, leading them to a second-place finish in his first season. But De Zerbi struggled to replicate that and was sacked in February after exiting the Champions League and a 5-0 defeat to rivals Paris Saint-Germain.