Can Tottenham’s spending splurge change the narrative?

Spurs are close to buying Manchester City’s Egyptian striker Omar Marmoush. Pic: Owen Humphreys/PA

AMAZING, isn't it, how a brush with disaster can concentrate the mind, and in the case of Tottenham Hotspur's owners, loosen the purse strings, as the old cliché goes.

At the time of writing, Spurs' summer of spending seems to go on and on, reaching new highs, just like the heatwave that has meteorologists reaching for their record books.

Minutes after the 1-0 win over Everton that kept Tottenham in the Premier League on the final day of the season, Roberto Di Zerbi made it clear he had only half-a-dozen players he considered good enough, in terms of skill and character, to form the basis of a successful team.

Less than ten weeks later, Spurs look set to take their spending in this transfer window past €500 million Euros with a double swoop on Manchester City for winger Savinho and striker Omar Marmoush, with Liverpool's Cody Gakpo still a target.

Spurs had already moved quickly for reinforcements when the window opened in June, signing Andy Robertson, Marco Senesi and Martin Dubravka on free transfers, and then taking Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton for €60m.

But the move that showed the football world they meant business was when they broke their own club record twice in the space of three days at the start of July by paying West Ham €99m for Mateus Fernandes, and then ramping up their spending with another €110m to Newcastle for Bruno Tonali. 

Six players signed for almost a quarter of a billion Euros in the opening month of the transfer window – no-one could imagine any of this happening under Daniel Levy.

The former chief executive was famously parsimonious and loved a bit of brinkmanship, preferring to deal late in the window, even at the risk of missing out on his primary targets. 

Levy's failure to sign Morgan Gibbs-White and Eberechi Eze last summer played a big part in his defenestration by the adult children of Joe Lewis, the club's majority owner, and the new ownership group are clearly not in the mood for a third successive 17th place finish. 

Flirting with relegation last season was stressful enough for fans, staff and most of the players – though significantly not all of them – but going down would have been disastrous for the owners, wiping a billion Euros off the the value of their prized asset, a club they ultimately want to sell.

So they are determined to put Tottenham back at the top table, and while a tilt at the title is fanciful for even the most partisan fans, Spurs certainly look better set to challenge for a Champions League place than they did a year ago.

De Zerbi is key, of course, having rescued them from a seemingly lost cause by winning three and drawing two of their final seven games. The Italian is widely acknowledged as an elite coach who takes no nonsense and knows what he wants, by contrast with the unfortunate Thomas Frank, whose appointment last summer was undermined by his inexperience and perceived lack of identity in terms of playing style.

Frank's modest success at Brentford was built on a defensive, counter-attacking system and exploiting set pieces, but it did not go down well with Tottenham's supporters, nor some of the players, who lost confidence in their new manager quickly.

Yet when De Zerbi was first making an impression in England, at Brighton, he built their success on a strong and aggressive attacking style, with players buying into his methods quickly and thriving. His central midfield pair Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo did so well they went from under-the-radar signings to million-Euro men when they moved on to Liverpool and Chelsea respectively after De Zerbi's departure.

Now he has had to spend over €200m Euros on Fernandes and Tonali to replicate that strength in midfield, one area where Spurs were so weak last season. They were two of the highest-performing players in the league in terms of forward passes, ball recovery and creating chances. They are good at receiving the ball under pressure and moving it on quickly, in stark contrast to the players Spurs had last season with the exception of Conor Gallagher, who was signed last January and one of their most effective players once De Zerbi arrived. 

The manager's style relies on 'baiting' the opposition into pressing his back line, and then moving swiftly forward to attack aggressively. It also requires defenders who are calm and confident on the ball, and again the signings of Robertson, Senesi and Van Hecke have strengthened Spurs in that department. 

Cristian Romero has finally got the move to Atletico Madrid he had wanted for more than a year, and there were few tears shed for the Argentinian. His ability was unquestioned, but his unavailability, whether through injury or suspension, made him less valuable. He became a liability as captain once he started to question the club's hierarchy, and his perceived lack of professionalism wore thin with fans and staff.

Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has also gone, having been overtaken by Antonin Kinsky, who recovered from a disastrous 17 minutes at Atletico Madrid last March to end the season as a match-saving hero on more than one occasion. 

Two full-backs enhanced their reputations at the World Cup - Pedro Porro by winning it with Spain, and Djed Spence emerging as a surprise star for England. 

But the latter would not be a first choice at Spurs and has been sold to Inter, part of a ruthless clearout by the club, who sold promising centre-back Luca Vuscovic to Brighton. Richarlison may be another one to leave if Dominic Solanke proves his fitness and Marmoush is signed, and teenage winger Mikey Moore may be given another loan spell after a successful season at Rangers.

It is significant that Spurs have some serious attacking talent likely to return from injury in the coming months. James Maddison has recovered from an ACL injury but needs match fitness, Dejan Kulusevski is slowly working his way back from the knee problem that kept him out all of last season, Xavi Simons, Mohamed Kudus and Wilson Odobert could all return by Christmas. 

Whether Spurs will be back in a relegation battle by then, or challenging at the top half of the table, depends on how quickly the new players assimilate and adapt to De Zerbi's demanding style.

Tottenham travel to Brentford on Saturday in a repeat of the fixture that opened Ange Postecoglou's reign three years ago. Eight of the 14 players involved in that 2-2 draw have been sold, and only one of those remaining, Richarlison, is likely to start this weekend.

That is the level of turnover De Zerbi wanted, and now it is up to him and his new squad to deliver.