Roberto De Zerbi has spoken openly about Tottenham’s transfer business, revealing that Spurs are on the verge of landing another top-level signing following their club-record deal for Sandro Tonali, and has hinted that both Cristian Romero and Guglielmo Vicario are free to leave the club this summer amidst links to Inter and Juventus.
What De Zerbi said about Inter and Juventus-linked Romero and Vicario
Tottenham have backed De Zerbi with a series of high-profile signings, which have already taken the club’s summer spending beyond the €250m mark.
Tonali became the most expensive Italian footballer of all time for the second time in his career when he joined from Newcastle United a few weeks ago, and he was added to the purchases of Mateus Fernandes, Jan Paul van Hecke and the free transfers for Marcos Senesi and Andrew Robertson.
De Zerbi, speaking to Football London, has hinted that another new signing is on the way, but that there are still several first-team players in the Tottenham camp that could still leave before the window slams shut.
“The transfer market, it’s not finished for sure, but we completed 60 per cent of our project in the transfer market. Now we have another bomba!,” De Zerbi said.
Among the players widely expected to leave Tottenham this summer is centre-back Romero, who has plenty of experience in Serie A from his time with Juventus, Atalanta and Genoa. Inter, who have also secured the services of centre-back John Stones, are actively pursuing a deal for Romero as well.
Addressing the Argentine’s future, De Zerbi said: “At the beginning of my time, in April, I had, I don’t know, one million individual meetings! And [the players] told me what was their idea. I said: ‘Yes, help me to stay up, and then I help you to leave’. If you don’t help me to stay up, you stay underwater with me!
“But Romero with me was unbelievable. Top. In his behaviour, his respect, he suffered when he did not play the last game. It is not true that he wanted to leave for Argentina to prepare for their World Cup. It’s not true.
“After the {World Cup} semi-final we text a message, but I never called him to convince him to stay. I respected what he told me. Like for Vicario, like for every player.
“Romero as a player is one of the best centre-backs in the world, but at the end I said I want to respect the will of the players.”
