Tottenham Hotspur have rolled the managerial dice again, and this time it has landed on someone who they hope can provide answers in the short and long term.
Italian, combustible, tactically dogmatic and seemingly not initially convinced on the Tottenham project — but that’s enough about Antonio Conte. As a football mind, Roberto De Zerbi, who signed a five-year contract on March 31, is basically the antithesis of the current Napoli head coach.
De Zerbi is more a graduate of the school of Pep Guardiola, although the City manager may recognise the Italian as a father of his own doctrine, having described him as one of the most influential managers of the last 20 years. Risk-taking is a core tenet of his coaching DNA, and while he will likely escape much of the blame should Tottenham suffer relegation to the Championship, it represents another dicey zag in an idiosyncratic career thus far.
Tottenham won’t be De Zerbi’s first experience of a former European great fallen on hard times. Having progressed through Milan’s academy as a creative midfielder, never making a league appearance for the Italian giants, De Zerbi dropped down to the fourth tier to sign permanently for Foggia in 2002-03. He worked his way back up the leagues at several Italian clubs before signing for Napoli in 2006, who were in Italy’s second tier. There, he eventually won promotion and made his playing debut in Serie A — but his stamp on Italy’s top flight as a coach was far more significant.
De Zerbi called time on his playing career at 34 to take over at Darfo Boario in Italy’s Serie D, and he was in Serie A within three years. His reign at Palermo was disastrous: he lost seven consecutive matches and was sacked less than three months later. But he was hired by Serie A newcomers Benevento a year later for the 2017-18 season. Benevento’s squad lacked the quality to survive in Italy’s top flight, but De Zerbi maintained his commitment to the front-footed, vertical, possession-based style with which he would make his name.
De Zerbi in charge of Benevento (Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
He was eventually relegated, but was hired shortly thereafter by Sassuolo, where he stayed for three seasons and started to receive widespread acclaim for his coaching methods.
In his final season at Sassuolo (2020-21), they averaged the highest possession share in the league. The season before, they were third behind Juventus and Napoli. Having signed Manuel Locatelli from Milan, the defensive midfielder became the fulcrum of his team, finding space in the middle of the pitch to direct quick, vertical attacks after the ball had been circulated from the goalkeeper, through the defenders and up to the strikers from goal kicks. They finished eighth in 2020-21, only missing out on qualification for the Conference League on goal difference. De Zerbi then departed for Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.
His time at Shakhtar was cut short due to uncertainty surrounding the war in Ukraine, but it was often thrilling. He won 20 of his 30 competitive matches in charge, scoring 64 goals. They pressed with intensity, something that was uncommon for Shakhtar teams of the time. They also created solutions to deal with the opposition’s attempts to do the same, flooding the midfield and wide areas with passing options who were comfortable receiving in and passing the ball out of pressure. An emphasis on equipping squads with technical quality has consistently been a priority for De Zerbi. This could be seen in the way he later tried to revamp Brighton and Hove Albion’s midfield to fit his vision after the departures of Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo, with limited success.
There may have been slight concerns with his ability to break down opponents who are content to sit in and defend, with the 2-0 defeat to Sheriff Tiraspol in the Champions League an example of how he could struggle to find answers against a low block. Carlo Ancelotti, then coach of Real Madrid, beat De Zerbi’s Shakhtar 5-0 later in that group stage, and said, in an interview with The Times of London, that he told his players not to press Shakhtar because “if you press, they will pass the ball around you. Don’t press, and they will give the ball to you.” But by the time he left, Shakhtar were at the top of the Ukrainian Premier League, and his stock was high.
At Brighton, De Zerbi is remembered for his historically great first season as much as for the tumultuous second. In his first term, having taken over from Graham Potter in September, who had departed for Chelsea, he guided the south-coast side to a sixth-place finish and qualification for the Europa League, the first time they had qualified for European football in their 122-year history.
The press-baiting tactic, where defenders would wait for attackers to close them down before attempting to pass the ball, was both jarring and pretty revolutionary. His decision to replace Robert Sanchez with Jason Steele, seemingly driven primarily by the latter’s confidence in possession, was surprising yet successful. Steele, who earned his first international call-up for England in March aged 35, described De Zerbi as “absolutely brilliant” on Brighton’s website and said, “the mentality is to be at the top, top level, and you’ve got to show him that you want to be a part of it through your application. Then hopefully he will take you with him, because there’s only one way he’s going.”
They were erratic, once losing 5-1 at home to Everton, then winning 3-0 against title-chasing Arsenal, before a 4-1 hammering away to Newcastle United, seemingly flickering between brilliant and shambolic — a team that reflected the coach in the dugout. He accumulated two red and four yellow cards in his first season in charge, one of those famously earned alongside compatriot Cristian Stellini, who was in the Tottenham dugout.
His time at Brighton ended on a sour note, publicly criticising the club’s transfer policies while results fell off a cliff in his second season. While the football has possibly never been better at Brighton, he continues to divide the fanbase, largely due to his conduct. At Marseille, his most recent job, the story is pretty much the same.
De Zerbi left Marseille earlier this season (Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images)
An excellent first season, where he guided the one-time Champions League winners to a second-placed finish and Champions League qualification playing excellent football, was marred by the fallout of his second, leaving after a 5-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
Even the first season was partly characterised by controversy, with De Zerbi threatening to leave four months into his tenure after a 3-1 home defeat to Auxerre. Or with training ground disagreements with Ismael Kone and Amir Murillo, who were promptly shipped out the door. Not to mention his public backing of Mason Greenwood, which has drawn significant criticism from several Tottenham supporters’ groups. De Zerbi responded to the fan criticism in his first interview since his announcement, saying he is “sorry if I offended anyone’s feelings with this subject matter”. He also added that “(he has) never wanted to downplay the issue of violence against women or violence against anyone more broadly,” and that, “(he hopes) that over time people will get to know me better and will understand that at that moment I didn’t mean to take a stance.”
He concluded the interview by downplaying his footballing “philosophy”, as this is a time for Tottenham to focus squarely on results. It’s probably a good thing too, with Lewis Dunk describing his first weeks of training sessions after joining Brighton as “baffling” to The Telegraph in 2023. Like Steele, however, Dunk eventually became a believer, crediting the Italian with helping him to “see football a different way”.
Right now, his job isn’t to create any more footballing disciples. If Tottenham are a Premier League club after the final ball is kicked on May 24, the inevitable drama, on and off the pitch, that it will take to get there will all have been worth it.