‘There’s very little patience’ – Ornstein gives huge De Zerbi sack update at Tottenham | OneFootball

The Athletic’s David Ornstein doubts that Tottenham have sacking Roberto De Zerbi “on the agenda” as things stand despite their poor start to the new season.

Spurs spent over £300m on new signings over the summer transfer window with Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke, Martin Dubravka, Mateus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali, Savinho, Omar Marmoush, Mykhaylo Mudryk and Tosin Adarabioyo all arriving.

The Tottenham board took action over the summer after back-to-back 17th-placed finishes in the Premier League with Spurs avoiding relegation by two points on the final day of last season.

But, despite the exciting summer signings, Tottenham have not started the new season well with two defeats to Brentford and Newcastle United followed by two 0-0 draws.

Tottenham fans are still waiting for their side’s first Premier League goal of the season and Ornstein insists there is “very little patience” at the top of the club – but that De Zerbi’s position isn’t in jeaopardy just yet.

When asked “what’s going on at Spurs” on USA Sports, Ornstein said: “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.

De Zerbi ‘at the heart’ of the Tottenham rebuild – Ornstein

“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.

“They’ve given him power in a way that no Tottenham Hotspur manager has seen before and they rebuilt the defence, the midfield, the attack. It’s a team that looks so different in personnel  but at the moment not in results.

“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.”