Roberto De Zerbi wasn’t appointed sooner by Tottenham Hotspur because he needed heavy persuasion | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur secured Premier League safety on the last day of the 2025-26 campaign and they have manager Roberto De Zerbi to thank.

The Italian joined the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium club on March 31, replacing Igor Tudor, and he helped Spurs secure three victories and two draws in seven league games.

Those 11 points were enough to keep the Lilywhites up and those at the club have revealed why De Zerbi was not appointed sooner.

The answer that comes from Tottenham when the question was asked is that he needed ‘heavy persuasion’.

Spurs started the season with Thomas Frank as manager after Ange Postecoglou was sacked in the summer, but the Dane was sacked on February 11, a day after a 2-1 loss to Newcastle United.

They had won just seven league games at the time, losing 11 and drawing the other eight. Tottenham appointed Tudor as an interim coach, with a view to making a proper, permanent appointment in June.

However, they did not win any league game under the Croatian, losing four and drawing one of the five fixtures he oversaw.

Spurs were only two points above the relegation zone when De Zerbi arrived, and while they finished the season two points above the relegation zone, things could have been worse without him in charge.

He was first discussed at Spurs as early as January but was at Marseille at the time. However, the Ligue 1 club sacked him on the same day Tottenham parted with Frank.

He was not keen on joining Tottenham, and it appears he was not convinced by the culture, ambition, experience, stability, quality in the team and leaders in the dressing room.

De Zerbi eventually agreed to join them and will go down in history as a hero after keeping them up.