Premier League strugglers Tottenham Hotspur have appointed Roberto De Zerbi as their permanent head coach, two days after Igor Tudor left the club.
The Italian, who was in charge of Premier League Brighton for a little under two years until he left in the summer of 2024, is tasked with keeping Spurs in the world’s richest football league.
De Zerbi, 46, has agreed terms over a five-year deal with Spurs, who are one point above the relegation zone with seven games remaining. The contract does not include a relegation release clause.
In a statement, De Zerbi, whose first game in charge is at Sunderland on 12 April, said: “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.”
Having sacked Thomas Frank in February, the north London club parted company with his replacement, interim manager Tudor on Sunday afternoon after five defeats in seven matches during a shambolic 44-day reign.
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The team last won a league match in December, 13 games ago.
De Zerbi’s appointment will not be universally popular among the Spurs fanbase after three supporter groups on Friday urged the board not to hire him due to his past association with Mason Greenwood at Marseille.
Proud Lilywhites, Women of the Lane and Spurs Reach all expressed their concerns with ‘No to De Zerbi’ statements.
The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust said in a statement on Tuesday that it cannot support the hiring of De Zerbi.
It said: “This appointment raises serious and far-reaching concerns, and many fans have been in touch with us to urge us to communicate the strength of feeling.
“We raised these concerns directly.”
Former Manchester United forward Greenwood was charged in October 2022 with one count of attempted rape, one count of controlling and coercive behaviour and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm over allegations relating to a young woman after images and videos were posted online.
The Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charges in February 2023 owing to “a combination of the withdrawal of key witnesses and new material that came to light”, which meant there was “no realistic prospect of conviction”.
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Greenwood has since resumed his career and joined Marseille in 2024.
In November, De Zerbi described Greenwood as a “good guy” who had paid a “heavy price” and added: “It saddens me what happened in his life, because I know a totally different person than the one who was described.”
