Roberto De Zerbi is reportedly planning to pick former side Brighton apart, with three Seagulls players on his shortlist for his first Tottenham transfer window.
De Zerbi kept Spurs afloat in the Premier League in the seven games he’s managed so far. Now he has a full summer to ensure his side aren’t in the same dangerous position a year from now.
There have been reports of interest in multiple players, and it seems the boss is planning to go big with a raid on his former club, Brighton.
Indeed, the Independent reports De Zerbi is hoping to raid the Seagulls for Carlos Baleba, Jean Paul van Hecke and Bart Verbruggen.
That trio would massively strengthen the spine of the Tottenham side, and De Zerbi is said to see them as ‘his players.’
Essentially, that means he feels the players can quickly get on board with his style, having played under him previously.
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How De Zerbi used his trio
Van Hecke played 50 games under De Zerbi at Brighton, Baleba 37 and Verbruggen 27.
The Italian boss is clearly a fan of all three, with the centre-back in the top 10 most frequently-used players during his time at Brighton, while he paid £23.3million for Baleba and £17.3m for Verbruggen – also both in his top 10 most expensive signings ever.
Baleba’s value has risen markedly since then, proving De Zerbi’s decision to sign him, and at such a low fee, a good one.
Indeed, he’s been mooted as a £100million man now, which could make him the trickiest potential signing.
But if any of the Seagulls are signed by Tottenham, they’ll join as experienced players who will seamlessly slot into the starting XI.
Spurs’ likely new centre-back partnership
Whatever happens in the summer, Tottenham are likely to have a new starting centre-back partnership. They are said to want to sign Marcos Senesi from Bournemouth as well as Brighton’s Van Hecke.
If they land both, one might not be an immediate starter, as Micky van de Ven reportedly wants to stay.
But it looks evident that Cristian Romero will be leaving, amid heavy links to Atletico Madrid.
The centre-back returned to Argentina in the week of the final game of the season and wasn’t planning to watch Tottenham’s crunch last game, showing his feeling towards the club and his disregard for their fate.