Roberto de Zerbi won three, drew two and lost two of his seven games in charge of Tottenham at the end of the 2025-26 campaign. There was a moment last season when Roberto de Zerbi turned to his Tottenham players and asked: "Did we pass away?" The scenes after his first game in charge - a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland - painted a grim picture. In the dressing room, De Zerbi said players were lying on their backs, some crying following the loss at the Stadium of Light. It was the first of seven matches De Zerbi had to keep Spurs in the Premier League.

While survival was only secured on the final day, the 47-year-old now believes he can help the club rise from the ignominy of a turbulent 2025-26 campaign. Four months on from the broken dressing room in Sunderland, the contrast is stark. At the team's hotel in Sydney for their pre-season tour, just a stone's throw from the Harbour Bridge and iconic Opera House, De Zerbi's players are laughing, smiling and enjoying coffees made by their own barista on a private floor.

Competitive table tennis matches are taking place as a club-record £237m worth of new signings integrate into a squad dreaming of a return to the upper echelons of English football and a renewed challenge for trophies. Club-record signing Sandro Tonali, plus new arrivals Mateus Fernandes, Jan Paul van Hecke, Andrew Robertson and Martin Dubravka have all featured on Spurs' pre-season tour. After featuring for Argentina in the World Cup final, Marcos Senesi was granted extended leave and is the only new recruit not to have featured in Australia and New Zealand, but has now begun training at Hotspur Way.

"I deserve to want the top players, because now Tottenham deserves to build up a top team," De Zerbi said. It was an unusual position for Spurs, but they had two transfer plans: one for relegation and one for survival. De Zerbi, who reiterates he would have continued managing Spurs in the Championship, is happy to be working from Plan A, including "respecting the will" of players such as club captain Cristian Romero and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, who could yet leave.

"At the beginning of my time in April I had one million individual meetings," De Zerbi jokes. "They told me if they didn't want to be here. I said: 'Yes, help me to stay up, and then I help you to leave. 'If you don't help me to stay up, you stay underwater with me." Sandro Tonali made 79 Premier League appearances for Newcastle before joining Spurs.

Spurs have undergone radical change over the past 12 months amid understandable fan anger, with new chief executive Vinai Venkatesham leading the organisation on behalf of the Lewis Family Trust. Venkatesham, alongside technical director Johan Lange, is leading negotiations. Lange is the only senior figure from the previous regime to remain in post. They are supported by director of football operations Rafi Moersen and new performance director Dan Lewindon, both of whom arrived from Manchester City's parent company, City Football Group. Lewindon has been tasked with improving Spurs' injury record.

But De Zerbi is hands on in all areas of the club and says "in the transfer market, when I want one player, I become like a shark. "No chance to say no." That approach has helped secure record deals for £85m Fernandes from West Ham and £100m Tonali from Newcastle.

"I love working in the transfer market. It's not a pressure, it's one of the nicest parts in my work, in my job," he explained. But where does that enjoyment come from? "I don't know, maybe because when you take the decision, you take the responsibility. If the coach calls the player, you can build a special connection at the beginning. "With Mateus Fernandes, I spoke with the mum, with the father." De Zerbi told Fernandes' father that he would be his "second dad" and look after him in England. Spurs also signed defender Van Hecke despite reported interest from Chelsea, having already beaten Manchester United and Manchester City to the two record-breaking midfielders.

Transfers are a world of game theory. Insiders have told BBC Sport that Spurs knew they had to be both aggressive and quick, with the first quality likely extending to fees, wages and De Zerbi's personal involvement in courting players. After the 2-2 draw with Brighton in April, in which Georginio Rutter scored a 95th-minute equaliser to dent Spurs' survival hopes, De Zerbi revealed he messaged Van Hecke, who assisted the goal. "You wanted to push down Tottenham for Brighton when you made the assist to Rutter, now you have to come to me, you have no choice," De Zerbi revealed.

For Tonali, De Zerbi detailed how he texted him the day after Spurs secured their Premier League status with a final-day win over Everton, before meeting him at his home in Brescia in what proved to be a decisive conversation. Club staff then completed the deal following several further discussions. Now he is teasing what he calls a final attacking "bomba", with moves for two forwards expected, including one for Manchester City's Savinho.

De Zerbi believes it would be wrong to suggest Spurs are spending irresponsibly. He said he is under "no pressure" despite the Lewis family injecting £100m into the club in June because it was desperately needed, arguing that Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool have all done the same in recent years. There have also been departures, with the club earning substantial fee for Luka Vuskovic's £45m move to Brighton. Doubts remain over the futures of midfielder Lucas Bergvall and England full-back Djed Spence.

"We assessed the request of Vuskovic [to join Brighton], with Vinai, with Johan together, because I consider Tottenham's money my money," De Zerbi said. "It's like the owner is my father, I think you don't want to ask your father to lose money. "Like all the big clubs, we have to sell a player at as big of a price [as possible] and we have to bring a player with a small price, we are starting for a plan of five seasons because we are building." There was also the disciplined decision not to sign Joao Palhinha on a permanent transfer from Bayern Munich, not because De Zerbi felt he was not good enough, but because the overall financial package was not considered suitable.

After the Sunderland game, there was also a sense of sadness and negativity among staff at the training ground. "The day after I organised a meeting without players and I said, 'The first one I see say something negative, I send you home immediately'," said De Zerbi. It is now about changing the "behaviour, attitude and spirit" of those at Spurs who suffered that traumatic season, having also finished 17th the previous campaign, albeit without the same fear of relegation and with a Europa League triumph under Ange Postecoglou.

He explains that he took his players for "one big dinner in Mayfair, with alcohol" and believes Spurs were unfortunate in their final matches and could have secured survival sooner. "I think they considered themselves in that moment worse than the people thought," De Zerbi admits, adding that the healing process continues. "I hope next time they organise [dinner and drinks] for themselves. "With love, friendship and care, you become top, top, top."

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