Market, Tottenham launches post-Igor Tudor: Roberto De Zerbi announced
Tottenham soccer market: Roberto De Zerbi arrives in London, he will be the one to fill the bench left empty by Igor Tudor. The White Hart Lane club announced the signing of the Brescia coach on a “long-term contract,” not specifying the actual duration, which will be five years, however. He will start again after his adventure at Olympique Marseille terminated on Feb. 11 to take the place of the Croatian (himself, interestingly, a former coach also of the Phocaesians) exonerated after just 43 days of the ordeal in the Premier League.
“We are pleased to announce the appointment of Roberto De Zerbi as the new head coach of the men’s team, on a long-term contract, subject to the issuance of a work permit,” reads the statement issued Tuesday by Tottenham. After a playing career with nearly 300 appearances in 15 years, Roberto, who was born in Brescia, began coaching in his native Italy and joined Serie A side Sassuolo in June 2018, earning recognition for his exciting, offensive, ball possession-based approach.”
“In May 2021,” continued the Tottenham note summarizing De Zerbi’s career, “he took the reins at Shakhtar Donetsk, guiding them to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League and the Ukrainian Super Cup, his first trophy as coach. In September 2022, he moved to East Sussex to join Brighton & Hove Albion, with whom he helped the Seagulls achieve their best-ever Premier League finish in their debut season, achieving European Cup qualification for the first time in the club’s history. In his most recent tenure at Marseille, the Ligue 1 side achieved a second-place finish in the 2024/25 season, clinching a place in the UEFA Champions League.”
“I am thrilled to be joining this fantastic club, one of the biggest and most prestigious in the world,” were De Zerbi’s first words as coach of Tottenham. In all my talks with the club’s management, their ambition for the future has been clear: to build a team capable of achieving great things, and to do so by playing soccer that excites and galvanizes our fans. I am here because I believe in this ambition, and I have signed a long-term contract to give my all and help achieve it.”
De Zerbi then framed the early goals of his Tottenham adventure: “Our short-term priority is to climb the Premier League table, a goal that will be the focus of our total concentration until the final whistle blows on the last game of the season. I look forward to getting back on the pitch for training and working with the players to achieve this goal.”
