Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi took charge of his first training session on Friday, with the players impressed with what they saw from the Italian.
Tottenham's players are at rock-bottom following the 3-0 defeat to relegation rivals Nottingham Forest prior to the international break, which left them one point and one place above the Premier League relegation zone.
With no league win in 2026, De Zerbi has been tasked with restoring confidence and moving Spurs away from the bottom three, starting with a trip to Sunderland on April 12.
The north Londoners could kick off the clash on Wearside in the drop zone, with 18th-placed West Ham United hosting bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers in the capital 48 hours prior.
De Zerbi has more than a week to work with his players before they face Regis Le Bris' men, with Football London's Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold saying that the players went home raving about the first session, with one individual labelling it as 'outstanding'.
On Friday night, Tottenham's official X account posted an eight-minute behind-the-scenes video of De Zerbi's first day of training to get a feel of what he will bring and the initial atmosphere.
What was immediately clear from the footage was that the Italian already looks to be taking a liking to midfielder Lucas Bergvall.
The 46-year-old is spotted having a one-on-one chat with the Sweden international, while he is filmed putting his arm around the 20-year-old in other clips too.
Gold had previously predicted in a YouTube video that he'd heard that De Zerbi would love some of the club's promising youngsters, such as Bergvall and Archie Gray, because of their technical abilities and ability to take information on and implement ideas quickly.
Bergvall Will Explode Under De Zerbi
The tall midfielder has been one of Tottenham's most impressive performers despite their struggles over the last two seasons, being named as the supporters' player of the year in 2024-25 after they won the Europa League.
At just 20 years of age there is a feeling that there is a lot more to come from the highly-rated Bergvall, and you wouldn't bet against De Zerbi being the man to extract it immediately.
Bergvall and Gray are the types of players De Zerbi and Tottenham need to build around for this long-term project they have just started, given they have often shown up their more senior teammates with their dominant performances in recent months.
The Swede's composure on the ball and ball-carrying abilities are perfect for De Zerbi's style of play, which is in-game intelligence is seen as one of his big strengths.
These are all traits that De Zerbi loves, and it would be no surprise at all to see the 20-year-old absolutely explode under the Italian sooner rather than later.