Tottenham Hotspur have secured Roberto De Zerbi as their new manager, signing him to a long-term contract as the Premier League club battles to avoid relegation. The Italian coach inherits a daunting challenge with only seven matches remaining to keep the North London side in the top flight.
De Zerbi, who previously managed Brighton & Hove Albion, has been brought in to rescue a season that threatens to end with Tottenham dropping out of the Premier League for the first time since 1977. The club’s Sporting Director Johan Lange confirmed that De Zerbi was their primary target for the summer, expressing satisfaction at finalizing the appointment now. Lange praised De Zerbi as one of the most innovative and progressive coaches in world football, highlighting his extensive experience at the highest levels, including the Premier League.
Currently, Tottenham sit just one point and one position above the relegation zone after 31 league games, having failed to secure a league victory since December. De Zerbi’s debut will come against Sunderland on April 12, by which time Spurs could potentially have dropped into the bottom three. He replaces Croatian Igor Tudor, who served as interim manager for seven games following the dismissal of Thomas Frank and left the club by mutual consent on Sunday.
In his first statement, De Zerbi emphasized the club’s ambition to build a team capable of significant achievements while playing an exciting and inspiring style of football. He stressed that the immediate focus is to climb the Premier League table, dedicating full attention to this goal until the season’s final whistle.
De Zerbi, 46, joined Marseille in 2024 after a successful stint at Brighton, where he led the French side to a second-place finish in Ligue 1 during the 2024-25 season. However, he parted ways with Marseille by mutual agreement in February following a heavy 5-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain and had indicated plans to wait until the off-season before resuming his managerial career.
During his two seasons at Brighton, De Zerbi earned acclaim for his progressive passing style, high-intensity pressing, and tactical flexibility. He guided the club to a sixth-place Premier League finish and their first-ever qualification for European competition. Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola once described De Zerbi’s tactical approach at Brighton as ‘unique’ and named him among the most influential coaches of the past two decades.
De Zerbi’s managerial career began at Palermo in 2016, a tenure that lasted less than three months, followed by a relegation with Benevento. He rose to prominence at Sassuolo, where he spent three seasons achieving two consecutive eighth-place finishes in Serie A before moving to Shakhtar Donetsk.
While Tottenham appear to be laying the groundwork for a new era under De Zerbi, their immediate concern remains securing enough points in the final seven fixtures to avoid relegation to the Championship. The club’s form in 2026 has been the poorest among relegation-threatened teams, with confidence further shaken by a 3-0 home defeat to fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest in Tudor’s final match.
De Zerbi becomes Tottenham’s sixth permanent manager since Mauricio Pochettino’s departure in 2019 and faces a challenging schedule starting with an away game at Sunderland, followed by a home match against his former club Brighton. One of his urgent tasks will be to improve Tottenham’s dismal home record, which has yielded only two Premier League wins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season.
