Roberto De Zerbi admits he wants Lucas Bergvall to stay at Tottenham but can’t guarantee starting spot | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi has made it clear that he wants wantaway star Lucas Bergvall to stay at the club.

However, he has also insisted that he will not offer the Swedish midfielder, who has been compared to Liverpool star Dominik Szoboszlai, any guarantees over playing time to persuade him to stay at Tottenham.

Tottenham are reluctant to lose the midfielder this summer and have already turned down a couple of offers from Premier League rivals.

Spurs have rejected a £46 million bid from Newcastle United and a £36m offer from Nottingham Forest.

The North London giants won’t stand in the way of Bergvall’s exit, but Tottenham will only sanction a sale if they receive a bid of around £60m.

Tottenham’s inability to guarantee Bergvall regular first-team minutes is a key reason why he wants to leave the club.

The midfielder made his first appearance of Tottenham’s pre-season campaign in Wednesday’s penalty shoot-out victory over Sydney FC after returning from his post-World Cup break.

His return comes at a time when competition for places in midfield has become tougher following Spurs’ major spending spree.

De Zerbi has now admitted that he wants the 20-year-old to stay at Tottenham even though he can’t guarantee him regular first-team minutes.

He also made it clear that Bergvall has never directly told him he wants to leave the club.

“I have always been very clear with him, and with you, I would like that he stays with us,” De Zerbi said (via The Times). “I think he’s potentially a top, top, top player.

“But I don’t want to convince anyone to stay. Tottenham is already, without me, a top club and we [don’t need] to convince anyone to stay.

“He can find the space [in the team] if he stays with us. The competition within the players will be very strong because we are Tottenham and we have to build a strong squad.

“Football is going in a clear direction — to compete for the highest places in the table, you have to manage 22, 23, 24 players. I don’t want 24, but 21, 22, of a high level, for sure.”