Roberto De Zerbi is now a beloved figure for many Tottenham Hotspur supporters, as he has struck all the right notes in his early days as the club's manager, erasing the stench of the combined Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor eras at the club. The Italian manager not only saved Spurs from nearly sure fire relegation from the Premier League, but he also got a lot of previously lost players like Micky van de Ven, Conor Gallagher, Pedro Porro, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Antonin Kinsky to believe in themselves and be at their best in the survival bid.
But Spurs fans will remember that De Zerbi was not initially a popular candidate, with many skeptical of his personal record after the Mason Greenwood and Elye Wahi fiascos at Marseille, as well as his public blow ups and early exits from his previous stops.
Roberto De Zerbi is here to raise the standard
To that end, while things are going well for De Zerbi and Tottenham right now, especially amidst the celebrations of surviving relegation from the Premier League, Sky Sports pundit and former Manchester United icon Gary Neville wisely sounded a warning for the Spurs front office to remember: if they don't get serious about backing him this summer as a just reward, De Zerbi may pull an Antonio Conte and up and leave.
Neville said, via Chris Cowlin, "Spurs will have to back De Zerbi. He's not going to sit down lightly and sort of just have his belly tickled by the ownership and believe anything that they say. I mean they must have given him promises on the way in. I said before there's a bulldozer needs to go through that dressing room and he's the bulldozer...There's big decisions to make at this football club and he'll have decided already in this first four or five weeks what he wants and what he needs to remain from the current dressing room and the current squad...He's got instinct, he's got experience, he's not someone who's gonna mess around. He's got strength now and he's got power now and he's got authority now with this sporting director and the ownership and they've got to go with him and if they don't go with him he's the type that won't accept it and he'll just be off. He'll say 'do one.'"
Although Gary Neville can be a controversial figure in the media for the things he says, he's spot on here. Roberto De Zerbi is as ruthless as they come and "win first", for better or for worse, and that's exactly what Tottenham have been needing. Spurs need De Zerbi to raise the standard of the club, but they need to listen to him in order to do that.
Add us as a preferred source on Google