The Tottenham Hotspur head coach is holding his first press conference of the Premier League season with plenty to speak about
Roberto De Zerbi has a mountain of Tottenham topics to tackle in his opening press conference of the Premier League season on Friday afternoon.
Spurs open their new campaign with a trip to Brentford on Saturday but there could be some new faces in the building before that as the club close in on signing Savinho from Manchester City in a deal worth £75million plus another £10million in add-ons. The north London outfit are looking to seal a double deal from the Citizens with talks advancing over the transfer of Egypt international Omar Marmoush.
That would secure another two players on De Zerbi's wishlist and make it eight new arrivals so far this summer, with the departure of players like captain Cristian Romero, Djed Spence and Guglielmo Vicario as part of the rebuild.
Romero's exit means De Zerbi must select a new captain and he could announce that during his press conference on Friday as well as discussing what remains for the club in the summer transfer window.
The Italian will also provide an update on the various players returning from injury, including Mohammed Kudus, who appears to have travelled home to Ghana this week for family reasons, Dejan Kulusevski and also Micky van de Ven, who did not play a minute of pre-season football.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold is among those putting the questions to De Zerbi. Scroll down for his latest updates from the press conference at Hotspur Way.
On Van de Ven missing pre-season
Today he worked with us, with the group and he is going very well. He suffered a problem during the pre-season of Australia, I don’t know if it was the flight, but not a big problem. We have Senesi, we have Ben Davies and in the right condition to play the game tomorrow.
Injury news
Micky is not on the list tomorrow like Pedro Porro. James Maddison is inside [it], Solanke inside, Udogie, Fernandes also. Sarr not because he felt some pain, but nothing big. Kudus is almost ready.
The Spurs boss was asked about Savinho
It's not right to speak about players until they are official. Just to say I'm very happy. We have not finished in the transfer market. It's an important part. So far we have brought in some great players, great spirit and great personality. You know better than me you don't win the games with big names and big players, you have to deserve to win the game. To do that we have to reach the level in character, intention and value and style of play.
De Zerbi on people talking about Spurs' spending
I heard too many times, Tottenham money, Tottenham money. I've loved football for a long time. I have seen all the teams that compete spend money. Maybe it's a problem if Tottenham spend money in the Premier League.
Your new Tottenham captain
The new captain is Micky van de Ven. Second Pedro Porro, third Ben Davies, fourth James Maddison and fifth Archie Gray. Why five? because I want as many captains as possible and they all deserve to be captains.
The Spurs CEO signed off on it
In case you were wondering what the new document Spurs filed with Companies House was, we've got an explainer right here.
Spurs are getting some money back
Every little helps when Spurs are trying to get those attacking deals done and you can find out what transfer is bringing in money to the north London club right here.
Double deal incoming
In case you're wondering why Spurs are looking to wrap up a double transfer for Savinho and Omar Marmoush, you can read all about them and De Zerbi's desire for the duo by going right here.
Here's our early predicted team
We asked our Tottenham reporters Alasdair Gold and Ryan Taylor to name the team they reckon De Zerbi could select to face Brentford on Saturday. You can find their different starting XIs by heading right here.
Welcome to Hotspur Way
Our first Premier League press conference of Tottenham's season awaits with plenty for Roberto De Zerbi to speak about.
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