Tottenham narrowly avoided relegation last season. Roberto De Zerbi arrived in April and, with three wins and two draws in seven matches, kept the Spurs above the line. This earned him the right to build a relatively new, refreshed squad, and the club emptied its coffers.
Tottenham have thus secured the third-highest spending position this summer, with a transfer outlay of 366 million euros. Yet the Spurs are languishing in 17th place on the table. After four matches, they have not seen victory or a goal, managing only two draws.
Among the new signings are Sandro Tonali, valued at 108 million euros, Mateus Fernandes (99 million euros), Savio (88 million euros) and Jan Paul van Hecke (60 million euros). De Zerbi’s defence has undergone a complete overhaul, with the coach building it almost from scratch. In this vision, there was no place for Luka Vušković.
The Croatian centre-back has moved to Brighton for 54 million euros. Cristian Romero has gone to Atletico Madrid, Djed Spence to Inter, and Kevin Danso to Sunderland. De Zerbi’s new line-up consists of Van Hecke, Marco Senesi, Andrew Robertson and Pedro Porro, with some room for Gray and Udogie. Van Hecke has arrived from Brighton.
Vušković is currently doing very well in his new club. Van Hecke is a 26-year-old Dutchman, and the two transfers have no connection to one another. It is a ‘swap’ between the two clubs, in which the English media outlet FourFourTwo is increasingly sceptical. Vušković never featured for the first team in Tottenham’s colours, but in the opening rounds he outshone his successor, Van Hecke.
Vušković possesses technical skill, good physical attributes and footballing intelligence. Tottenham, by selling Vušković, have lost a highly promising player, who three years ago they were keen to sign from Hajduk. Brighton’s business model suggests that Vušković will one day be sold for a higher fee. Vušković is still thinking of London, but in a completely different shade – the white shirt is now behind him. Arsenal will travel to Brighton for the fifth round of the Premier League on Saturday.
