Fabrizio Romano and transfer journalists in the United Kingdom are increasingly linking Tottenham Hotspur with former Marseille and Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi, who despite having not accomplished anything major in European football is one of the biggest names on the managerial market and apparently seen by Spurs as the top option to replace Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor.
Whether or not De Zerbi is open to replacing Tudor immediately remains to be seen, but you have to think that after his latest falling out with Marseille, he would be very much open to moving up in the world footballing ranks to Tottenham, one of the top 10 clubs in the world in terms of revenue last season. Spurs would need to stay up in the Premier League, but even in this dark hour, they are still an attractive option to managers like De Zerbi who are aiming to make a name for themselves.
On the surface and to the average fan, Roberto De Zerbi sounds like a great hire for Tottenham Hotspur. He is much stronger tactically than Thomas Frank or Igor Tudor, and he's had success fending for himself in multiple leagues and multiple settings, including shining in the Premier League with Brighton not too long ago.
Roberto De Zerbi is too volatile
But Tottenham fans are not average fans. Unlike a lot of the big clubs in the world, the people who support Spurs are diehard lovers of this game and very plugged in to what's happening elsewhere. They know that De Zerbi is a ticking time bomb. He does not last at clubs for very long, and Spurs fans are already sharing footage on Reddit and other social media channels of him berating players in training for no reason.
And with De Zerbi, the character concerns are entirely valid. He has signed players like Mason Greenwood and Elye Wahi with serious allegations of criminal conduct against them, and there is real reason to believe that De Zerbi clashes with the kind of culture Tottenham fans want at their club. They are already upset with the lack of effort and the egos in the locker room from some high profile players, and the last thing they want is to add actual miscreants and a manager who seems more interested in "winning" (even though he barely does that) at all costs and would turn the other way at real issues.
Tottenham Hotspur have made a lot of poor judgment calls under the current leadership. What they fail to realize is that not only will De Zerbi alienate fans further because of the people he brought to Marseille - and still failed to succeed there, getting fired pretty quickly - but he will also likely alienate the front office and locker room. He has lost teams within a few years at every spot he has been at, and if Tottenham hire him, they cannot build a long term project. They will almost 100 percent be cycling through a manager again within one or two years with De Zerbi appointed.