Roberto De Zerbi lauds his most impactful players after Tottenham secured Premier League survival.
Roberto De Zerbi used his post-survival press conference to pay tribute to the players whose contributions extended far beyond what appeared in any match report or ratings article, naming a remarkable and revealing list of individuals who he credits with making Tottenham‘s Premier League survival possible.
The Italian’s response when asked which players had been crucial during his tenure was characteristically passionate and specific, refusing to deal in generalities and instead honouring individuals whose character and commitment he clearly found as valuable as any technical quality. De Zerbi said (h/t Football London):
“Dragusin. Dragusin was top because he didn’t play, but he was always positive inside the dressing room. Inside the pitch. Bentancur. Because Bentancur, when he came back from the injury, he wanted to play. He came to me to say, ‘Hey, I want to play. I’m ready to play.’ Joao Palhinha, because at the beginning of my time, he didn’t play in Sunderland, here with Brighton and Wolverhampton. Ben Davies. Yesterday, he came to the Lodge with us.”
“Djed Spence. Before the Chelsea game, he came in my office. Another one to say ‘I want to play.’ He said, ‘You always speak about the personality, the courage. I’m here, if you want to play with one player,’ and he was fantastic, I love it. Micky van de Ven. Great guy, sensitive guy. I spent a lot of time with him, because I consider him the best centre-back, left-centre-back in the Premier League, with Levi Colwill, because he was my former player, and I can’t forget him. But a lot of other players. Richarlison, Archie Gray, I can’t say one.”
What makes De Zerbi’s list so striking is what it reveals about the qualities he values most as a manager. Dragusin barely played, yet he received the first mention because his attitude and positivity within the group never wavered. Palhinha was left out of the starting lineup for three consecutive matches under his new manager and responded not with sulking or agitation but with professionalism. Spence walked into the manager’s office before the highest-stakes fixture of the season and demanded to be selected, channelling De Zerbi’s own message about personality and courage back at him in the most direct way imaginable.
Bentancur’s return was crucial for Spurs
Bentancur’s return from injury was one of the pivotal moments of the survival run, and the fact that he sought out De Zerbi personally to declare his readiness reflects a player whose mentality matched the quality that his performances subsequently confirmed. Van de Ven’s inclusion is equally revealing, acknowledging a player whose season included some of the most costly individual errors imaginable, yet whom De Zerbi never stopped believing in and never stopped investing time in privately.
The mention of Ben Davies, a veteran presence who came to the team’s pre-match Lodge gathering the night before the Everton fixture, speaks to the value De Zerbi places on experience and togetherness that extends beyond those who are fit enough to play.
It is a list that tells the story of a survival not won through individual brilliance alone, but through collective character, dressing room unity, and a manager who understood that the battle was as psychological as it was tactical.