Roberto De Zerbi has made an interesting admission about having to wait so long to get the likes of Savio through the door at Tottenham.
While a lot has been made of Tottenham’s proactive business this summer, the club went nearly a month and a half without signing any player after getting six through the door before the start of pre-season.
That wait for a seventh signing finally ended on Tuesday, with Spurs announcing that Savio had signed from Manchester City.
It has been an open secret that Tottenham have been locked in negotiations for the 22-year-old since the start of the summer, with the Lilywhites being frustrated by City’s negotiating tactics over the past couple of months.
Roberto De Zerbi admits Tottenham have been forced to be patient to get their top targets
Earlier this summer, De Zerbi publicly announced that he wants Spurs to sign their top targets, rather than settling for Plan B or Plan C.
However, he has now admitted that the club’s transfer strategy has tested his patience, revealing that Tottenham have been in discussions with City over Savio since the end of last season.
When asked about having to be patient to get his top targets, De Zerbi told Football.London: “I am not patient. I have no patience, but I had to wait, because we started the negotiation for Savio three days after the Everton game [on the final day of the season].
“For many reasons, we arrived in the last week of August to close Savio. You can close on other players, but if you want the highest level, the highest quality of the players, it’s right to wait, more than for a normal player.”
De Zerbi admits Spurs need to change losing habit
Following the bruising 3-0 loss to Brentford last Saturday, De Zerbi remarked that Tottenham have not gelled as a team yet, and they could suffer until they do so.
The Italian has now stressed the importance of changing the habits of everyone at the club, given that results have been poor in the Premier League for the last two years.
The Tottenham boss added: “I would like to win five games in a row, changing the habits. The environment of the team group, that’s the medical and physical staff, my staff, because we are maybe not now but in a few weeks we will be ready to win three, four, five games in a row.
“Like we did last season. Against Brighton we lost two points in added time, we won at Wolverhampton, we won at Villa, we didn’t beat Leeds but the game more to win than lose, so four games in a row. And in the beginning we didn’t have enough to win one game.”