Roberto De Zerbi - Manager Thread
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De Zerbi's 'ultra' roots and the Brescia connection at Spurs
Roberto de Zerbi grew up as a fan of Brescia, where Tottenham's club record signing Sandro Tonali also played
ByAlex Bysouth
BBC Sport Senior Journalist
There is a distinctly Brescian feel to N17 of late. While the Italian city's famous old club were effectively declared bankrupt this week, a footballing passion forged at Stadio Mario Rigamonti may be fuelling Tottenham Hotspur's revival.
Roberto de Zerbi, the manager who saved Spurs from relegation last season, was raised on the terraces of Brescia's 'curva' by his father, Alfredo, who was president of the supporters' clubs. De Zerbi says he was "born an ultra".
"My dad is crazy about football. He was one of the leaders of the Brescia tifoseria. At home, we lived and breathed football. He was the one who passed that passion on to me," the Italian told Salim Lamrani in his book Football According to Roberto de Zerbi.
Tottenham's Brescia connection runs through the playing squad too. Sandro Tonali, their new record signing, joined Le Rondinelle aged 12 and made his debut as a 17-year-old, helping Brescia return to Serie A before joining AC Milan in 2020.
De Zerbi says he followed the midfielder as he rose through the ranks at his boyhood club, and Tonali told BBC Sport on Thursday about the bond they share.
"Brescia is so small. I had two weeks there and met him two or three times," he said.
"We spoke about Brescia, about the difficult situation facing our club."
However, Tonali's £100m move threatened to pose a contentious issue in Italy.
Amid mounting debt and financial problems, Brescia Calcio, owned by Massimo Cellino, were excluded from professional football by Italian authorities last summer.
They were replaced by a new team in Union Brescia, who have taken on the mantle of the city's club and play at the same iconic ground graced by Roberto Baggio and Pep Guardiola, as well as De Zerbi and Tonali.
Tonali and his wife were there to watch Union Brescia in the Serie C play-offs earlier this year - the club eventually lost to Ascoli in the final.
There were reports, however, that Cellino may look to revive Brescia Calcio in some format with the club, having trained Tonali, potentially due a percentage of his transfer fee - about £3.5m - under Fifa's solidarity contribution scheme.
But that prospect seems to have died after Brescia Calcio were wound-up in a court ruling, external on Tuesday.
As Brescia and their fans embrace a new era, the passion and footballing ethos De Zerbi learned through his father and those visits to Stadio Mario Rigamonti remain.
"Roberto's love for Brescia shaped his career," his brother, Rocco, told Corriere Della Sera.
The adversity that shaped De Zerbi's principles
Rosanna Pedrollo spent half a century working for Brescia, first joining the club's administration department in 1968 - she met De Zerbi's father, Alfredo, in the early 1980s through his work coordinating the supporters' clubs."He was always around in those days," Pedrollo tells BBC Sport. "He organised the away trips, knew which players were going to visit which supporters' clubs and when. He took care of everything.
"Alfredo was a huge football fan. He was a passionate, fiery character and a wonderful father. He was a gentle person, but full of energy at the same time. Very polite, but never afraid to say what he thought, whether people agreed with him or not.
"There aren't many people like him in football today. Everything has changed so much. He gave his passion to the club."
Pedrollo remembers a four or five-year-old De Zerbi being mascot, when he would follow the side home and away with his father. 'Roby', as his friends called him, would also watch training sessions and prepare tifos for home matches.
He happened to be a talented footballer, too, playing a stone's throw from his idols for USO Mompiano, before joining lower-league side Lumezzane and then AC Milan at the age of 12.
His father "wanted so badly" to see him play for Brescia one day, says Pedrollo, adding: "That I know for certain, because he told me many times."
Alfredo got his wish when his son spent 19 games on loan at his hometown club in 2008.
De Zerbi got his first taste for coaching in the city too, helping a friend coach youngsters at ADC Mario Rigamonti, yet many of the principles that guide his management today took root through the adversity his family faced in the economic crisis of the early '90s.
His father was forced to sell their mat factory, as well as the home De Zerbi grew up in, instead moving into a small flat.
"We had to rebuild our lives from scratch," De Zerbi told Lamrani, who says the Italian remains "true to the ideals of his youth and to his working-class roots".
Indeed, the day after signing his first professional contract with Milan, De Zerbi says he was at the bank signing a mortgage to buy his parents a house.
"Coming from a modest background, success has never led him to abandon his principles or his values," adds Lamrani, who also worked as Marcelo Bielsa's disciplinary coach and interpreter at Leeds United.
"He has preserved the principles of solidarity and generosity instilled in him by his parents and has never renounced his social origins. He knows exactly which side of the barricades he stands on: with the people.
"He instinctively sides with the oppressed. That reflects his rebellious temperament, forged by his own life story."
De Zerbi gave the Brescia 'V' towards rivals Atalanta when they faced his Marseille side last season
Lamrani says De Zerbi "remains deeply attached to the people on the terraces" - and to his Brescian roots. That was obvious when Marseille welcomed Atalanta in the Champions League last season.
George Boxall, author of FADA! A Season in Marseille, who followed De Zerbi's time in France, recalls the Italian performing the famous Brescia 'V' sign towards the away end.
"I was born in Brescia, a hundred metres from the stadium; I'm a Brescia tifoso - it's in my family's DNA - and for us, playing Atalanta is like a fiercely contested derby; we'd be thinking about it from Monday to Sunday," said De Zerbi at the time.
"Roberto is a man of the terraces, a man of the people: straightforward, loyal and authentic," adds Lamrani.
"He loves terrace culture, particularly at working-class clubs such as OM. He grew up on the streets and absorbed their unwritten codes. For him, a person's word is sacred.
"He is generous by nature, giving of himself without reserve and trusting his instincts. He has little patience for selfishness or opportunism. That outlook is deeply rooted in ultra culture."
RDZ is the 11 th longest serving manager .. that is crazy
Seven games !!!!!
Carrick’s tenure measured from taking interim charge on 13 January 2026. Jaissle appointment subject to confirmation.
Seven games !!!!!
Who's been around the longest?
Current Premier League managers ranked by length of tenure
| Manager | Club | Appointed |
|---|---|---|
| Mikel Arteta | Arsenal | 22 December 2019 |
| Unai Emery | Aston Villa | 01 November 2022 |
| Daniel Farke | Leeds United | 04 July 2023 |
| Régis Le Bris | Sunderland | 01 July 2024 |
| Fabian Hurzeler | Brighton & Hove Albion | 02 July 2024 |
| Frank Lampard | Coventry City | 28 November 2024 |
| David Moyes | Everton | 11 January 2025 |
| Keith Andrews | Brentford | 27 June 2025 |
| Sergej Jakirovic | Hull City | 11 June 2025 |
| Michael Carrick* | Manchester United | 13 January 2026 |
| Roberto De Zerbi | Tottenham Hotspur | 31 March 2026 |
| Marco Rose | Bournemouth | 01 June 2026 |
| Andoni Iraola | Liverpool | 04 June 2026 |
| Pierre Sage | Crystal Palace | 15 June 2026 |
| Gary O’Neil | Ipswich Town | 23 June 2026 |
| Enzo Maresca | Manchester City | 29 June 2026 |
| Xabi Alonso | Chelsea | 01 July 2026 |
| Oliver Glasner | Nottingham Forest | 06 July 2026 |
| Alvaro Arbeloa | Fulham | 07 July 2026 |
| Matthias Jaissle** | Newcastle United |
ScottDaYid
Vital Football Legend
Yea that list is pretty mental
Spursex
Alert Team
Italian coach on how his belief in ‘total freedom’ saved Tottenham from freefall, why he acted ‘like a shark’ in transfer market, and ambitions for this season
De Zerbi saved Tottenham from relegation after being appointed with seven Premier League games remaining last season
Peter Rutzler
Wednesday August 05 2026, 12.00pm, The Times
Roberto De Zerbi prefers to be uninhibited and it is here, in this psyche, that you can start to unpick how he helped Tottenham Hotspur to escape the resignation of their freefall last season. Players are drawn to him, beguiled by a maverick who was once a creative himself, a No10, and that feeds into his philosophy.
“I don’t love rules,” he says. “I read a book where it was written that creative people don’t follow any rules. I like creative players. I don’t want to set any rules. Just a couple, two or three at most. I am not a policeman, not even with my children. Freedom, totally freedom. One is one. You are like me, or like a kitman, [we are] the same. But every day we have to push, every day we have to deserve to stay here or to play football or to earn the money we are earning, otherwise it’s not normal. We have to respect the luck we have had in our life.”
And if his players break that trust?
“What do you want to know, if I punch the player?” And with that the room erupts, and not for the first time. De Zerbi is compelling company, a magnetic presence who pulls you in with his quiet, gravelly voice and staccato English — supported by interventions from his long-serving and trusted translator, Enrico Venturelli — and then he snaps you out of a trance with a sharp quip. He reads you with a piercing stare and speaks with the conviction of a priest.
Many in the game preach his gospel. Pep Guardiola said he was one of the most influential coaches of the past 20 years and others, including Enzo Maresca and Francesco Farioli, cite his impact. “It is one of the few things I feel a bit embarrassed about,” De Zerbi says. “I am sure about myself, always fully charged. But when I started to be a coach, I couldn’t imagine ever becoming a coach in the Premier League, with Tottenham, and then the biggest coaches in the world spoke well about me, or [said] that I am a reference for them. I become shy. I am not used to that and I don’t think I will ever get used to it.
“Last season when I went into the big stadiums I spoke with my assistant and said, ‘We are not used to working in this kind of stadium with atmosphere’. We are lucky because we started from the shit of football.”
Tottenham were in the shit, to borrow his phrase, when he took charge on the last day of March. He feared the worst after only one game and decided the best course of action would be for his players to drown their sorrows. Tottenham had suffered a damaging 1-0 defeat by Sunderland at the Stadium of Light and the sight that greeted him in the dressing room at full-time was apocalyptic; a mess of anguish and despair.
“I didn’t tell you in the press conference, but it was like this: all people were crying, lying down on the floor,” he says, reflecting from the relative safety of pre-season, a few months on, in a boardroom tucked away on Tottenham’s private floor of the Intercontinental hotel in Sydney. “I said, ‘Have we passed away?’ ”
Tottenham were 18th in the table and relegation loomed. The next day, at the club’s training ground and before the players returned to work, De Zerbi issued new instructions to every member of staff.
“After the Sunderland game, the people inside the training ground were sad and negative,” he says. “That day I organised a meeting without players [just staff] and I said, ‘The first one I see saying something negative, I send you home immediately. I don’t want to see anyone sad, negative or crying. If you stay positive, I give my word, we will stay together here.’ It’s another crucial part, because the players live with these people. They have to feel good. Yes, they have a good salary and everything is good for them and that’s important in their job, but [it’s also] in their behaviour, attitude and spirit.”
The cure for the players?
“One big dinner in Bacchanalia in Mayfair, with alcohol,” he says, to laughter. “Alcohol is a good medicine, if you enjoy it normally and seriously and not as stupid people. I believe in staying together. Then, I transferred every day my opinion about them. I think they considered themselves in that moment to be worse than people thought. There was the possibility to stay up and to win. The potential of the team was very high.”
“I spoke with Vinai [Venkatesham, the chief executive], and with Johan Lange [sporting director], but I didn’t want to come [earlier], because I suffered on my way out from Marseille,” he says. But they discussed transfer targets and he jumped. He says he would not have bailed out if he had failed to save Spurs from relegation. “It was true, I couldn’t live even in the Championship, I would suffer, I would pass [away],” he says. “But if you sign [for] five years, you can’t leave after two months just because you play in the Championship.”
This was a rescue mission of the mind, not tactical genius. De Zerbi’s football has been lauded everywhere he has gone but there was no time to decorate; the house was burning down. “The most important thing about my job is the relationships I have as a man,” he says. “Values, relationships, the human part of football. Football is here, in the knowledge in football, the mentality to play, press, manage the game in every stadium — away, at home, nothing changes. But in the beginning of the coach, there is a man. Without relationships I am not able to work. Without relationships you can’t play good football and have a good style of play, and especially in the tough moments you go on the human part. For that, this is maybe my best version [of my career] last season. Twenty per cent coach, 80 per cent the person.
“I was proud and happy, but I don’t feel last season was my achievement — it was the players.”
Now he wants to construct a team that can put the past two seasons behind them. The players have been enthusiastic, relishing his insistence on forward play, and controlling games with the ball. The defender Micky van de Ven insisted they would be “more enjoyable” for people to watch. What would the players need to do to earn another night out?
“No, nothing!” he says. “I hope they organise one for themselves, because in sport, between players, between players and the coach, if you have respect, it is normal, no? If you have respect and value a person, it’s much better. If you have respect, value and love — friendship, care — you become top, top, top.
“Respect is normal. ‘Coach, good morning, hello.’ You have respect. If I believe in you, it’s much better. If I love you — between players, the coach — you become unbelievable.”
This approach is something De Zerbi has gleaned from life experience.
“When I felt the relationship with the teacher as a student at school, or with the coach as a player, I was able to give my best,” he says. “If I didn’t feel the connection, if I didn’t feel he appreciated me, the teacher, or a coach, I closed my head [mind], we start a war.”
Spursex
Alert Team
cont..
Now he is plotting a path away from trouble for Spurs. They have spent more than £237million on transfers this summer and De Zerbi wants two or three more signings. He feels he has an excellent relationship with the Spurs hierarchy. “We are working very well, it’s my best connection with a board,” he says. He is a coach who has had combustible relationships with those upstairs in the past. “If the owner doesn’t respect me, it doesn’t matter if you’re an owner or not. In my life I always thought like this. Sometimes I have had bad ends to relationships, but with 80 to 90 per cent we have a great relationship.”
He says working with Tony Bloom at Brighton & Hove Albion was a “university”. “The money of my club, I consider my money,” he adds on the intricacies of the transfer market and selling Luka Vuskovic to Brighton. “It’s like the owner is my father; you don’t want to ask your father to spend money or to lose money.
“If we bring a player in, if we sell a player, it’s one family.”
De Zerbi says he is “like a shark” when he has a transfer target in mind, reflected in how he went to Brescia, to Sandro Tonali’s home, to persuade the midfielder to sign for £100million from Newcastle United; and unlike many other coaches, he loves navigating the transfer window. “If the coach calls the player, you can build a special connection at the beginning, because the player knows you are the key for this transfer, and maybe this player feels he has to give you back something more.
“With Mateus Fernandes [signed for £85million], I spoke with his parents. With JP [van Hecke], after the Everton game, I sent him a message: ‘F*** off, you wanted to push down Tottenham when you made the assist to Georginio Rutter [he set up a 95th-minute equaliser in a crushing 2-2 draw with Brighton in April]. Now you have to join me — yes or yes, you have no choice!’ After the game, in my office at Tottenham stadium, I sent a message to my daughter, and then to JP.” Van Hecke signed for £52million.
De Zerbi is relishing the chance to make his mark on the Premier League.
“It’s a big opportunity for me, because I deserve to stay here now, not just for my career but also for the last seven games [of last season], because in the last seven games it was not normal to accept the job in that condition,” he says. “So, first of all, I like to think I deserve to stay here, deserve to want the top players, because now Tottenham deserves to build a top team.
“Words … they are not clear, but the facts are clear on the table. Now we have to bring top players to become competitive, I don’t know if to win, but for sure to be better than the last two seasons’ results in the Premier League.
“Then, I consider the trophy the end of the journey. I can’t manage the end of the journey, I can manage the journey from the beginning until the end. And now is not the moment to think of the trophy. The trophy arrives if you, in this journey, have worked well, been your best version, and the players have been able to play in the best way they can.”
Now he is plotting a path away from trouble for Spurs. They have spent more than £237million on transfers this summer and De Zerbi wants two or three more signings. He feels he has an excellent relationship with the Spurs hierarchy. “We are working very well, it’s my best connection with a board,” he says. He is a coach who has had combustible relationships with those upstairs in the past. “If the owner doesn’t respect me, it doesn’t matter if you’re an owner or not. In my life I always thought like this. Sometimes I have had bad ends to relationships, but with 80 to 90 per cent we have a great relationship.”
He says working with Tony Bloom at Brighton & Hove Albion was a “university”. “The money of my club, I consider my money,” he adds on the intricacies of the transfer market and selling Luka Vuskovic to Brighton. “It’s like the owner is my father; you don’t want to ask your father to spend money or to lose money.
“If we bring a player in, if we sell a player, it’s one family.”
De Zerbi says he is “like a shark” when he has a transfer target in mind, reflected in how he went to Brescia, to Sandro Tonali’s home, to persuade the midfielder to sign for £100million from Newcastle United; and unlike many other coaches, he loves navigating the transfer window. “If the coach calls the player, you can build a special connection at the beginning, because the player knows you are the key for this transfer, and maybe this player feels he has to give you back something more.
“With Mateus Fernandes [signed for £85million], I spoke with his parents. With JP [van Hecke], after the Everton game, I sent him a message: ‘F*** off, you wanted to push down Tottenham when you made the assist to Georginio Rutter [he set up a 95th-minute equaliser in a crushing 2-2 draw with Brighton in April]. Now you have to join me — yes or yes, you have no choice!’ After the game, in my office at Tottenham stadium, I sent a message to my daughter, and then to JP.” Van Hecke signed for £52million.
De Zerbi is relishing the chance to make his mark on the Premier League.
“It’s a big opportunity for me, because I deserve to stay here now, not just for my career but also for the last seven games [of last season], because in the last seven games it was not normal to accept the job in that condition,” he says. “So, first of all, I like to think I deserve to stay here, deserve to want the top players, because now Tottenham deserves to build a top team.
“Words … they are not clear, but the facts are clear on the table. Now we have to bring top players to become competitive, I don’t know if to win, but for sure to be better than the last two seasons’ results in the Premier League.
“Then, I consider the trophy the end of the journey. I can’t manage the end of the journey, I can manage the journey from the beginning until the end. And now is not the moment to think of the trophy. The trophy arrives if you, in this journey, have worked well, been your best version, and the players have been able to play in the best way they can.”
De Zerbi admits he sent angry text to transfer target and has Kulusevski update
The Tottenham Hotspur head coach sat down with football.london's Alasdair Gold before flying back from the club's pre-season tour
Sorry Ex , didn’t see your post above
So the two longest serving managers are in charge of the the most improved team and the team that won it. Who would of thunk it...
thelaughingcock
Vital Squad Member
These tactico videos are great and all, but we're essentially in the same shit show of a situation if there's nobody in the squad who can stick the ball in the net.
ScottDaYid
Vital Football Legend
Defense and midfield look good. Attack is full of crocks and clowns.
About a week to sign 2/3 players, not looking promising.
thelaughingcock
Vital Squad Member
RDZ must be fuming, once again a manager is being let down when we are on the cusp of building something worthwhile
ScottDaYid
Vital Football Legend
I could understand if we wasn't in need and the targets ain't available.
It's clear he wants Savinho, Savinho wants us and City would sell. Just pay the money and get it done.
Striker is a bit more of a concern but I'm sure we have targets in mind. We didn't penny pinch for Tonali or Fernandes, why are we messing about for arguably the most important positions?
TQ2Spurs
Vital Football Legend
Your stance assumes we are in total control of these situations Scott, as Spursex has explained, it is rarely the case. It has been widely reported that City won't let Savinho go until they have a replacement.
Littlest Hobo
Vital 1st Team Regular
Said it elsewhere. We risk undermining everything we have done well so far. The next step shapes our entire season.
Either get Savinho over the line or go out and spend £150m on some guarentees. Ideally do both. Net spend isnt that great with Romero and Vicario sales still to come.
Either get Savinho over the line or go out and spend £150m on some guarentees. Ideally do both. Net spend isnt that great with Romero and Vicario sales still to come.
ScottDaYid
Vital Football Legend
I get that but City are not exactly desperate for a replacement, it's not like he's their starting LW.
They have Doku & Semenyo. Plus Foden, Marmoush, Cherki & O'Reilly can all fill in there. They also just bought that kid from Leicester who's a left winger.
If we threw enough money at them I'm sure they would accept.
TQ2Spurs
Vital Football Legend
We have apparently agreed a fee with them, I don't think paying more would make any difference.
ScottDaYid
Vital Football Legend
I've heard we've agreed terms with Savinho but still a way off agreeing a fee with City, so says Fabrizio anyway. Who knows.
