It’s official — according to the club’s official social media account on X, Tottenham Hotspur have formally appointed Roberto De Zerbi as its head coach, effective immediately.
Earlier reports suggested that De Zerbi will be appointed on a five year contract, presumably not including what’s left of this season.
The contract apparently does NOT include a break clause in the event Spurs do not survive and are relegated to the Championship this season.
In a statement posted on Spurs’ website, De Zerbi had this to say:
“I am delighted to be joining this fantastic football club, which is one of the biggest and most prestigious in the world.
“In all my discussions with the club’s leadership, their ambition for the future has been clear – to build a team capable of reaching great achievements, and to do that playing a style of football that excites and inspires our supporters. I am here because I believe in that ambition and have signed a long-term contract to give everything to deliver it.
“Our short-term priority is to climb the Premier League table, which will be the complete focus until the final whistle of the last game of the season. I’m looking forward to getting out on the training pitch and working with these players to achieve that.”
Sourcing has suggested that De Zerbi was always “the guy” and that a significant amount of time and effort was spent in convincing him to join the club NOW instead of this summer, which was De Zerbi’s preference (and presumably contingent on the club staying up). Reports are that at Spurs De Zerbi will be the third highest paid manager behind Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.
I cannot tell you how distressing this is to me personally. I have already listed in detail all the reasons why De Zerbi is not a good nor worthy appointment for a club of Tottenham Hotspur’s stature and culture. But considering the incredible outpouring of opposition I’ve seen from Spurs supporters both here and on social media, this appointment feels worse than just tone-deaf — it feels like a slap in the face by Vinai Venkatesham, Johan Lange, and the Tottenham Hotspur Board of Directors to appoint a man who has a demonstrated record of rape and sexual assault apologia and who has not shown results to back up his reputation as a tactical genius apart from one decent season at Brighton a few years ago. This is an outcome few people wanted, and they decided to do it anyway.
I have not been so angry with the club since the appointment of Jose Mourinho. This one actually feels even worse. I’m sorry to everyone reading this. Cartilage Free Captain remains in vehement opposition to this appointment, but we are not going away. I feel very bad.
