Roberto De Zerbi talks about limited coaching staff at Tottenham.
Roberto De Zerbi’s operational preferences are well-documented. Throughout his managerial career, he has constructed coaching structures of considerable scale. At both Brighton and Marseille, he worked alongside a seven-member backroom staff. Not so much the case at Tottenham.
Instead, what materialised was a significantly slimmed-down affair: only two of his seven familiar assistants made the journey to North London. Marcattilio Marcattilii and Marcello Quinto are among those who have joined Hotspur Lane. Marcattilii, who began working with De Zerbi at Foggia in 2015, brings institutional knowledge spanning the manager’s entire career trajectory. Quinto, who reunited with De Zerbi at Brighton in 2023, provides fitness and development expertise. When asked why only a limited number of coaches, here is what he had to say via Football London:
“It is totally different this situation because we have no time to work like in Brighton time and I don’t want to put confusion inside of the players.“
Yet the absence of five other longstanding members of De Zerbi’s coaching apparatus is conspicuous. Andrea Maldera (assistant), Enrico Venturelli (assistant), Ricard Segarra (goalkeeping coach), Vincenzo Teresa (fitness coach), and Agostino Tibaudi (fitness coach) remained outside Tottenham’s orbit.
Holdback
The stated reasoning (from the club) is straightforward: Tottenham elected to retain continuity with coaches already embedded within the club’s structure. Bruno Saltor, who arrived as Igor Tudor’s assistant in February, remained. Andreas Georgson, Cameron Campbell, and Fabian Otte, all appointed under Thomas Frank’s regime in July 2025, continued in post.
But from RDZ’s point of view, it makes perfect sense. When there is a dearth of time, you’d not want too many coaches giving too many instructions, and eventually, none of those going through to the players. We all have heard that too many cooks spoils the broth.
A good decision or not, we shall only know come the end of the season. For now, the focus should be on getting three points every time the side steps out instead of saying, “We have only 4 coaches instead of 4936850493582.”
For now, we work with what is available. Whether that proves sufficient during a critical relegation battle remains genuinely uncertain.