In what could be as little as hours, Tottenham Hotspur are likely to announce Roberto De Zerbi as their next manager with many transfer insiders like Fabrizio Romano reporting that Spurs are very close to reaching an agreement with the former Brighton manager.
De Zerbi had seemed to be off the table since there was a sense that he only wanted to join a club at the end of the 2025/26 season and that he would only be interested in the Tottenham job if they were able to stay up.
However, Tottenham are apparently throwing enough money at the Italian manager that they are changing his mind. Now, the high salary in and of itself is concerning, but Spurs fans were trying to reconcile how De Zerbi would suddenly be willing to coach a team at risk of relegation. Implicitly, they knew the answer would be some sort of a clause enabling De Zerbi to leave, even if he were the one who got relegated.
Roberto De Zerbi will not be loyal to Tottenham
Well, it looks like all the Tottenham Hotspur suspecting this little wrinkle were on the right track. ESPN analyst and insider Julien Laurens said on BBC Sport's Monday Night Club that he was told today that there would be a clause in Roberto De Zerbi's contract enabling him to leave Tottenham and avoid managing them in the EFL Championship if they were to go down.
Laurens said, “He’s not a Championship manager. There is no doubt in my mind, and I was told that again earlier, that there will be a clause for him to walk away. “There’s a break clause obviously if they do go down from the club’s point of view, but he would not stay in the Championship if they were to go down.”
Nothing about this quote from Laurens is surprising, but it is further confirmation for Tottenham fans apprehensive about hiring an abrasive manager with several spells less than two years at his previous stops that De Zerbi is a hired gun who does not fit the culture of the club like Mauricio Pochettino.
Whereas De Zerbi is the choice of Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange, the fans are clearly more behind a reunion with Mauricio Pochettino, who had Spurs competing for Premier League and Champions League titles before being fired under questionable circumstances. Poch would have stayed regardless of Spurs being in the Premier League or Championship, and yet De Zerbi would not have that same loyalty.