Roberto De Zerbi's Transformation of Tottenham's Midfield

Roberto De Zerbi never arrived at Tottenham to tinker. He came to tear up, redraw and accelerate, and this summer window is already bearing the marks of a manager intent on reshaping a club in his own image.

The back line went first. Marcos Senesi, Andy Robertson and Martin Dubravka walked through the door on free transfers from AFC Bournemouth, Liverpool and Burnley, while Jan Paul van Hecke arrived from Brighton & Hove Albion to stiffen the centre of defence. Four signings, one clear message: Spurs would be built from the back with players comfortable living on the edge of pressure.

Now the renovation has hit the engine room.

Tottenham have made their fifth and sixth additions of the summer, landing Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United and Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United, two central midfielders with the profiles to define De Zerbi’s tenure in north London.

A midfield built for risk

De Zerbi leans on a 4-2-3-1. In one sweep, that double pivot has been rewired.

His opening seven Premier League games in charge were about survival, not ideology. Spurs were fighting relegation; the tactical revolution stayed in its box. But De Zerbi’s history at Brighton and Marseille leaves little doubt about what comes next: a possession-heavy style fused with high pressing and sudden, violent accelerations into direct football.

His trademark is “press-baiting”. Centre-backs and goalkeeper roll the ball around in rehearsed patterns, inviting opponents to swarm. The moment the trap snaps shut, the ball zips past the press and the whole team surges forward as if on the counter-attack, even though they’ve had the ball all along.

It is a style that drags Spurs away from the more measured Thomas Frank era and back towards the front-foot daring that Ange Postecoglou briefly restored. Opta’s data underlines the kinship: De Zerbi’s 2022/23 Brighton and Postecoglou’s 2023/24 Spurs produced near-identical figures for direct speed upfield and passes per sequence. Both sides could pass teams to death, then suddenly slice through them in three touches.

To play that way, the midfielders at the base of the system cannot be passengers. They must press with ferocity, cover ground, and still have the composure to take the ball in tight spaces, pop one-touch passes under pressure and then, when the trigger comes, punch vertical balls through the lines.

At Brighton, that responsibility fell to Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo, who turned that platform into moves to Liverpool and Chelsea. In north London, Fernandes and Tonali inherit that brief.

Why these two?

Line them up against Spurs’ most-used central midfielders from 2025/26 and the logic is stark.

De Zerbi’s football feeds off aggression without the ball. High turnovers — winning possession in open play within 40 metres of the opposition goal — and quick ball recoveries are non-negotiable. It is why Conor Gallagher became so central as an attacking midfielder in the run-in last season: he chased, harried, and set the tone.

Tonali and Fernandes fit that mould. On league-wide plots of high turnovers and recoveries, they sit among the players who most frequently turn defence into instant attack. They will not just join Spurs’ press; they will sharpen it.

Then comes the other side of the coin: what they do when the ball is theirs.

On another Opta graph, charting final-third entries and passing accuracy, both Tonali and Fernandes again push towards the top-right corner. They complete more passes and more entries into the final third than most Premier League midfielders, including Spurs’ existing core. That combination — safe enough to keep the ball, bold enough to play forward — is exactly what De Zerbi demands from his pivot.

The numbers drive the point home. Per 90 minutes:

• Tonali completes 13.24 final-third passes and 16.81 forward passes, with 84.8% open-play pass accuracy and 0.53 possessions won in the final third.
• Fernandes delivers 10.30 final-third passes and 12.65 forward passes, at 87.8% open-play accuracy, winning the ball 0.51 times per 90 in the final third.

Compare that to Spurs’ 2025/26 regulars: Pape Sarr (9.96 final-third passes, 10.55 forward, 84.4% accuracy, 0.32 possessions won high), Gray (6.57, 10.77, 82.7%, 0.12), Joao Palhinha (5.53, 12.86, 81.8%, 0.20) and Rodrigo Bentancur (7.56, 11.70, 85.6%, 0.33).

Now set those Spurs numbers against De Zerbi’s golden pair from Brighton’s 2022/23 season. Mac Allister posted 14.16 final-third passes, 14.16 forward, 87.0% accuracy and a huge 0.90 possessions won in the final third. Caicedo recorded 14.22, 15.62, 88.7% and 0.57.

Tonali and Fernandes do not just nudge Spurs’ current midfielders; they pull the averages closer to the Mac Allister–Caicedo standard that powered Brighton into Europe.

Different tools, same intent

The two new arrivals will not play the same role.

Fernandes is the creative conductor. He can drop deep, spray long diagonal passes, slip sharp through-balls or carry the ball past a line with a dribble. His profile leans towards a No 10 operating from deeper zones, in contrast to the more functional options Spurs already had.

The creative data backs that up. In 2025/26, Fernandes created 32 chances and attempted 31 take-ons. Only Tonali, with 37 chances created and 48 take-ons, matched or exceeded that blend of invention and willingness to commit opponents.

Sarr (11 chances created, 22 take-ons), Gray (8 and 16), Palhinha (8 and 23) and Bentancur (10 and 32) trail well behind. They are capable players, but not the same level of attacking fulcrum.

All this came with Fernandes operating in a cautious, often reactive West Ham side that slid into relegation. Put that same player into a front-foot, territorially dominant De Zerbi system and the ceiling rises. More touches in advanced areas, more teammates making aggressive runs, more targets for those raking passes.

Tonali’s brief is different. He is the Caicedo analogue: the destroyer who relishes duels and second balls, but who refuses to be just a stopper. Think Palhinha or Bentancur in terms of defensive bite, but with a more proactive, forward-thinking passing game.

He wins the ball, then immediately looks to hurt you. That is the rhythm De Zerbi wants — tackle, pass forward, run — not tackle, recycle, reset.

The De Zerbi signature

Strip away the graphs and tables and something else becomes clear about this double signing: the mentality.

De Zerbi’s football is not cautious. It lives on risk, on daring players to take the brave option. Fernandes and Tonali fit that mood. They play with urgency, with a constant lean towards the opposition goal, with a readiness to take responsibility rather than hide behind the safe pass.

In Senesi, Robertson, Dubravka, van Hecke, Fernandes and Tonali, Spurs have assembled a spine that understands pressure, both with and without the ball. It is a squad being tuned for “De Zerbi-ball”: bold, intricate in its build-up, ruthless when the chance to go direct appears.

The rebuild is not finished. But with the heart of the team now ripped out and replaced, Tottenham’s direction is unmistakable. The question is no longer whether De Zerbi will change Spurs.

It is how far this new midfield can drag them, and how quickly, back towards the progressive, daring football the club has been craving.