‘At the heart of it’ – David Ornstein reveals interesting detail about new Tottenham structure

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David Ornstein revealed that one key figure was at the heart of Tottenham’s summer recruitment after the club failed in a move for a 46-year-old sporting director.

Spurs have had the busiest window in the club’s history after escaping relegation by the skin of their teeth last season.

Tottenham signed 10 new players for a combined cost of £400m, but some of their new signings have not hit the ground running as their supporters may have hoped for.

Roberto De Zerbi is confident that Spurs will improve in the final third with time, but some pundits are already accusing the Italian of having spent badly this summer.

Roberto De Zerbi led Tottenham’s summer recruitment after move for Sebastian Kehl failed

David Ornstein has now revealed that Spurs have committed to a long-term project with the Italian coach, who was at the heart of their recruitment decisions.

The journalist explained that Tottenham tried to appoint former Borussia Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl to help with their rebuild, but their deal for the German fell through.

Ornstein told USA Sports: “It feels like it’s history repeating itself. We’ve just passed the one-year anniversary of Daniel Levy leaving the club after 25 years at the helm, and that saw the Lewis family almost reclaim control.

“You could ask what they were doing as ultimate owners in that period – but it set off the most remarkable overhaul we’ve seen in probably modern Premier League history. Where they came along with big promises for more wins, more regularly, huge spending.

“And they’ve certainly embarked upon that. Of course the managerial upheaval at the club led them to Roberto De Zerbi, and they went all in on him. A five-year contract, no clause in the event of relegation to depart and a massive salary.

“He’s paid among the very biggest managers in the Premier League and European football. They got going in the market in remarkable fashion, in terms of numbers, in terms of transfer fees, in terms of salaries, which Tottenham had been so spendthrift on in the past.

“At the heart of it was Vinai Venkatesham, the chief executive, Johan Lange, the sporting director. They brought in a director of football operations from Manchester City in Rafael Moersen and also tried to get the former Borussia Dortmund executive Sebastian Kehl to help. That deal fell through but really at the heart of it all has been Roberto De Zerbi.”

De Zerbi’s future is secure for now, but he has to deliver

Ornstein explained that Spurs have always planned for a multiple-window rebuild and that De Zerbi’s position is secure for now.

However, The Athletic reporter pointed out that managers often do not get the time they want and that the 46-year-old has to show signs of improvement.

He added: “Now it’s going to be a really interesting period ahead based on what they are going to do in the next windows because Peter Charrington, the non-executive chairman, has said it will take multiple transfer windows to get to where they want to be.

“As you said at the top, there’s very little patience, they are asking for time and Roberto De Zerbi will be judged ultimately as the man on the touchline. It would be very expensive if they were to part with him but I don’t think that’s on the agenda for now. I think it’s all about him getting results on the pitch and extracting maximum performances after the best part of £400m was spent. Now it’s time to deliver.”

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