Tottenham revamped their squad with 10 signings during the summer transfer window.
Tottenham Hotspur’s hierarchy did a great job of splashing the cash on new players and backing Roberto De Zerbi during the summer transfer window.
The Lilywhites went through a major squad revamp as they aimed to put last term’s woes behind them and make progress under De Zerbi this season. They spent over £350million on 10 new signings, whilst letting players in double digits leave. However, that has not resulted in a strong start to the 2026/27 campaign.
Tottenham have fired blanks across six hours of Premier League action, which is a shame given the investment the club made during the summer. De Zerbi and Co. also bid goodbye to their hopes of going deep in the Carabao Cup competition after tasting defeat at Liverpool in midweek.
Ex-scout Bryan King makes big admission on Tottenham’s summer business
Sandro Tonali was the marquee signing Tottenham made in the summer. The North Londoners broke their club record and splashed £100m to sign Tonali from Newcastle United. Across the capital, Arsenal signed Bruno Guimaraes in a £75m deal from Newcastle United.
As Tonali has struggled to hit the ground running at White Hart Lane, Bruno made his first big difference for the Gunners last week with a sensational long-range strike in the 2-0 win over Sunderland. This has prompted former scout Bryan King to accuse Tottenham of completing so many “second-choice” signings to rebuild De Zerbi’s squad.
“I just look at the side, and I think the money that they’ve spent, it seems to me as though they’ve got the second choice on the next batch of quality players that have been moved during the summer,” Bryan King told Football Insider.
“You know what I mean? I mean, look at the two main players that left Newcastle, Guimaraes and Tonali. Tonali cost £25m more than what Guimaraes did, and for me, Tonali isn’t the player that Guimaraes is.
“Guimaraes was the heart of Newcastle, Tonali wasn’t. I just think if you’d have signed Guimaraes and gone for him, I don’t think Arsenal would have gone for Tonali, that’s for sure.
“It just seems desperate. ‘Let’s appease the supporters by showing that we’re going to buy these players, we’re going to spend the money.’”
Tonali will come good for Spurs
It is fair to say that there are still some glaring issues within the team that have not been addressed. Overall, De Zerbi has been given the tools required to make the club competitive again in the Premier League. The onus is now purely on the Italian to develop the team, give a playing identity, entertain the fans and win matches.
As for Tonali, indeed, he’s not had the start in N17 everyone had hoped for. After an entire summer’s rest due to Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup, the 26-year-old has struggled to return to his peak physical fitness. Once he reaches those levels and gets in sync with his new teammates, we’ll all witness the best of our club-record buy.
