Tottenham Hotspur have put pen to paper and signed center midfielder Lucas Bergvall to a contract extension, making a clear statement to the young Swedish international that they believe in him and his future development, even though he has started the season in a rough manner with a disaster class in the Premier League on Matchday 1 against Brentford and a failure to rectify that with another subpar display vs. Charlton Athletic in the League Cup.
But Roberto De Zerbi and Spurs are buying into what Bergvall can do in the future, and De Zerbi sees something special in him as a competitor, even as he had submitted a transfer request earlier this summer out of frustration after a lack of minutes in 2025/26 under the other managers - and with the new acquisitions of Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes.
De Zerbi has handled the Bergvall situation flawlessly. He made it clear to Bergvall that if he wants to go, he must go, because De Zerbi won't have players who don't believe in Spurs. But he still took the time to back Bergvall and convince him to stay, and he even gave him playing time at the beginning of the season to sink or swim. And even after he sank, De Zerbi has still been complimentary and pushed Spurs to give him another contract extension.
Roberto De Zerbi patched things up with Lucas Bergvall
All of this flies in the face of the criticisms of Roberto De Zerbi as a man manager after the Richarlison saga. De Zerbi and Richy have been painted as villains by one side of the argument or the other after De Zerbi publicly stated that Richarlison, along with Kevin Danso and Pape Matar Sarr, wanted to leave. Richy disputed this, and after deals to Everton and Trabzonspor fell apart, De Zerbi did not even register the striker in his squad - and Tottenham Hotspur are still looking to Brazil for a solution to sell him before he leaves for free next year.
Whlie the Richarlison saga has been an ugly one, it is telling that Danso and Sarr, the other players in that equation, did indeed want to leave and were already sent packing before the Premier League transfer window closed to start September.
It is also telling that De Zerbi has a great relationship with Lucas Bergvall and that the two have more than patched things up after Bergvall's serious threat to leave to Newcastle United, Aston Villa, or Nottingham Forest this summer. Bergvall's case disputes the idea that Tottenham does not back his players and can't get along with them.
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