Yesterday, Tottenham Hotspur head coach Roberto De Zerbi set supporter hearts a pitter-patter with comments about an imminent transfer “bomba,” suggesting Spurs were on the verge of completing a new offensive signing. That, naturally, sparked a surge of online speculation, with fans wondering which of the many (many!) players Tottenham have been linked to were the “bomba.”
We did it too! It’s fun, and so are transfer rumors! And while we get lots of speculation from various garbage-tier sports websites
and even more garbage ITK accounts, it’s pretty rare that we get transfer speculation direct from the head coach of one of the top ten richest clubs in world football.
Alas, someone from Spurs’ comms team must have pulled Roberto aside and had a nice chat with him because in today’s press conference ahead of Spurs’ friendly match against Chelsea in Sydney, De Zerbi seemed to try and walk back his previous comments, making them a lot more anodyne and vague.
“Yes, but bomba in Italian is different from bomba in English. You can write what you want, no problem, no pressure. But I said we have to complete the transfer market. I think we have some other players to complete the squad, and the players will be here in the next in the next days are for me, top players. I don’t know if the expectation are bigger than two days ago, but we have to go forward and to think to the good of the the team of the club, of the the squad, But in Italian it’s a different word.
“I think Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Senesi, Robertson are bomba. For me, top player for us.”
Yeah, okay, I know De Zerbi is Italian and all but we’ve been using “bomba” for transfer surprises/signings since Antonio Conte was gnashing his teeth in pique on the sidelines. He knows what it means and he also knows what WE know it to mean. And while I’ll maybe grant him £100m-rated Sandro Tonali and £85m Mateus Fernandes, sorry, Roberto — Andy Robertson is NOT a bomba. Don’t piss down our legs and tell us it’s raining.
So while I was hoping to wake up to news that we’re signing Kylian Mbappe, what I got instead was De Zerbi backpedaling and taking the club line, which honestly he probably should’ve done anyway. Whatever. Just sign us a couple of attackers eventually, please. Roberto DID indicate that he wants 2-3 more players in the squad before the window shuts.
Fans have been a little antsy about James Maddison, who has barely featured in the preseason friendlies this summer. De Zerbi said that Maddison is dealing with a small injury and he’s not pushing him to play out of an abundance of caution, along with other players who had a busy World Cup summer of intensive action after a full Premier League season.
“James has a small problem. Like I said, I don’t want to take any risks, especially in this part of the season. Especially for James, because he suffered a long injury last season. It’s important for us, but for him and for Mateus Fernandes, the same. It’s not the right moment to take risk. We’ll work again when we’re back in London.”
Elsewhere, De Zerbi also spoke briefly about youth players, who have gotten an inordinate share of the minutes in Spurs’ first three preseason matches. That’s mostly due to RDZ not wanting to take inordinate risks in preseason especially with players who are coming back from long term injuries, but he also spoke about needing to re-establish the pipeline between the Spurs academy and the first team, which has taken a beating over the past couple of years.
“For one club like Tottenham, our level is crucial because when you go in the Champions League, European competition, to complete the list for the financial fair play is very important. Sometimes people forget the rules of the financial fair play, but it’s very important to produce players from the academy. Now we are working on three or four potential very good players like Luca Williams-Barnett, Malachi Hardy and Mikey Moore, even if he’s older.
“It’s part of my job and I work with the same passion, with the same details, with the same behaviour because it’s important for now and for the future of the club.”
