De Zerbi eyes Spurs title challenge after first securing Premier League survival

Roberto De Zerbi knows his first mission is to keep Tottenham in the Premier League but believes the club has everything to challenge for the title in the future.

Roberto De Zerbi knows his first mission is to keep Tottenham in the Premier League but believes the club has everything to challenge for the title in the future.

De Zerbi will take charge of his maiden fixture as Spurs head coach on Sunday away at Sunderland with his new team on a 13-match winless league run and embroiled in a shock survival battle.

Tottenham have not been relegated since 1977, but De Zerbi is the third man to sit in the managerial hotseat this season and, even though he is focused on the final seven matches of a difficult campaign, he plans to aim high in N17 after he signed a five-year contract.

Asked about his relatively short spells at Brighton and Marseille, De Zerbi pushed back: “I stayed three years in Sassuolo and then I left (Shakhtar Donetsk) from Ukraine when the war started.

“In Brighton I left for different problems and in Marseille maybe the same, (but) I would like to stay four or five (years), for a long time.

“In my plan, for sure there is the idea to stay for a long time, to try to put Tottenham, I’m not speaking about titles because it’s not the right moment now, but (I want) to put Tottenham to stay in the first position in the Premier League because there are all parts to reach that level.

“First of all it has to be clear to everyone. I want to work in the Premier League and I believe I deserve to work in the Premier League, but the main sense of my work is more than the league.

“If I sign my contract in April I have to be ready to stay, no matter what, in the next season. I want to stay focused on Sunderland and the other six games, but my idea is very clear.” De Zerbi’s arrival has not been universally popular, with three Tottenham fan groups against the appointment due to his past comments on Mason Greenwood, who played under the Italian at Marseille after charges of attempted rape, controlling and coercive behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 2022 were dropped.

The 46-year-old faced no questions about Greenwood in the broadcast section of Friday’s press conference but still had the familiar story of a Spurs boss being forced to talk about injured players.

“Yes, I started with not too big luck,” De Zerbi joked after Mohammed Kudus’ setback.

He later confirmed goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario (hernia) remains sidelined, which means Antonin Kinsky could start at Sunderland a month on from his horror appearance in the Champions League away to Atletico Madrid.

Even though De Zerbi is missing several key players, there are plenty in his squad that were former targets at his old club.

De Zerbi said: “Now we have to make points. I’m sure about the level of the players because many players in the past I was very, very close to bringing them in my former teams.

“I think I’m not better than Thomas Frank or Igor Tudor because I consider them very good coaches.

“I try to bring my style, myself, my character, my personality and my passion to help the players to show their qualities because they have a lot of qualities, and then to achieve our target because the most important part now is our target.”