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Tottenham are in talks with Roberto De Zerbi but could be presented with one immediate issue if he is appointed as Igor Tudor's successor in north London
Tottenham could face 'carnage' should Roberto De Zerbi take charge of the club's bid for Premier League survival. The north London club may want to heed the words of Brighton defender Lewis Dunk when the Italian was still in charge of the Seagulls.
De Zerbi is in line to take over Spurs following Igor Tudor's exit. The club engaged in advanced talks with the ex-Marseille boss and have proposed a lucrative deal, though discussions still must take place over De Zerbi's backroom team.
If the 46-year-old accepts Tottenham's five-year offer, he must hit the ground running with a side that has not won a Premier League match in 2026. But De Zerbi's first weeks in charge of a new club can be a nightmare, such is the difference in his approach.
Speaking in 2023, Brighton star Dunk revealed how difficult the adjustment was when De Zerbi came in following Graham Potter's exit. “If I am being honest, the first couple of weeks were horrendous…" Dunk told the Telegraph.
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"I wouldn’t say horrendous, they were baffling. The first meeting when he went in, I was so confused – who to look at, what to listen to, and you slowly pick up. Basically don’t listen to the manager, wait for the translator to speak and you get there in the end.
“Training changed dramatically. We worked on a lot of different stuff and the first couple of weeks were a really hard transition.
"We were fourth in the league when Graham left and we were flying with him and it was a strange time for him to go and then Roberto came in and it was a carnage two weeks.”
With just seven matches remaining and Tottenham in 17th place with West Ham one point behind, De Zerbi will need to get off to a fast start at Hotspur Way. Not doing so could prove disastrous for the Lilywhites.
But if they are able to navigate that period, Spurs' stars could reap the rewards if they undergo a journey like that of Dunk. “I see football in a completely different way, I picture it in a different way and that is the biggest thing," Dunk added on his experience.
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"Football is not what I thought it was. Just how we play now. The idea of what I did before, I thought it made sense. But when you learn something completely different, you believe in it and this makes sense. You think ‘why didn’t I know this?’ and ‘why didn’t I do this before?’
“The style of play, really. And when to release the ball. All our games now are about pressure, playing with opposition teams when they’re pressing high and pressing low. When to pass the ball, the timing of that and the timing of movement. Before, I didn’t really know about that. It’s all about the finer details."
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