Roberto De Zerbi defends Tottenham spending as they close in on double signing

Roberto De Zerbi has declined to comment on Tottenham closing in on the double signing of Savinho and Omar Marmoush, but has defended the club’s spending this summer.

Spurs reached an agreement with Manchester City on Friday morning for the transfer of Brazil winger Savinho, who will join the club for an initial £75million with a further £10m included in the package in add-ons, the Press Association understands.

Savinho’s arrival will take Tottenham’s expenditure during this summer beyond the £300m mark, with £100m on Sandro Tonali from Newcastle whilst Mateus Fernandes cost £85m, but De Zerbi questioned the club’s critics after back-to-back 17th-place finishes.

Ahead of Saturday’s Premier League opener at Brentford, De Zerbi said: “I think the Premier League is a different league.

“It’s a different price, different competition in the transfer market and I don’t know if it’s right or not. On the market, and I’m not speaking just in football, but generally in the market, you can’t say if it’s right, fair or not. You can accept or not.

“And if you want to compete in the Premier League now, you have to adapt. I think I’ve heard too many times, ‘Tottenham money, Tottenham money,’ but I loved football for a long time and I didn’t see any team competing for the high level without spending money.

“Maybe if Tottenham spend money is a problem in the Premier League? I don’t know why, but all the other teams have spent money in the past and also in this season. For me it’s not a pressure, it’s just a consideration.”

Spurs remain determined to close a deal for Savinho’s City team-mate Marmoush, but De Zerbi side-stepped talk about incoming transfers.

“It’s not right to speak about the players until they are official. Just to say, I’m very happy. We have not finished yet in the transfer market. It’s an important part, I think because so far we have had a great summer of signings,” De Zerbi said.

“Great players, great behaviour, great spirit, great personality, but you know better than me in the Premier League, you don’t win the game with the names, with the big players.”

Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca, asked about Marmoush ahead of his side’s opener against Brentford, said: “Omar is still here with us and is a different situation to ‘Savio’. We will see what happens. Savio, since day one, asked to leave and Omar didn’t ask to leave since day one, not yet.”

A big buzzword for De Zerbi this summer has been to find Tottenham’s soul but they will be without several players for the trip to Brentford.

Micky van de Ven, who was announced by De Zerbi as the club’s new captain during Friday’s press conference, will sit out the fixture along with Pedro Porro to manage their fitness but Destiny Udogie, James Maddison and Dominic Solanke will be in the squad.

De Zerbi acknowledged no European commitments to focus on can help Spurs’ efforts to secure a higher finish this season.

“We can improve faster than the Champions League or the European League in the middle of the week, for sure, but I would like to compete every season in the European competition because I think Tottenham deserve to stay in that competition.

“Without talking too much about the target, the goal of this season, the first two targets we have very clear in ourselves is to find the soul of the team and the second target is to improve in our organisation of football.”