Hotspur HQ

Tottenham Hotspur are still at risk of relegation from the Premier League this season, and with that carries the fear of the club losing some of its biggest stars - and worse yet, for less than their true market value on the open transfer market.

While many Spurs fans won't actually feel all that bad about big names like Micky van de Ven and even Cristian Romero walking away, there are some young stars with real superstar potential who always fight for the badge with whom a transfer out would feel devastating.

Here are the three most unsellable players on the Tottenham books right now.

CM Archie Gray

No player over the last few weeks has improved their stock more than Archie Gray, and it will be exciting to see what Tottenham's best deep lying midfielder - by far - can do under a more progressive and tactically adept coach in Roberto De Zerbi.

Gray was brilliant even when Tottenham were horrible, and even just taking Thomas Frank out of the equation massively helped the young England international. Shining for club and country, Gray is one of the last players Spurs can afford to lose, espcially with his leadership and profile as a 6.

CM Lucas Bergvall

Meanwhile, coming into the season, no player on Tottenham Hotspur had more hype than the other teenage sensation in midfield, Lucas Bergvall. Likewise, Bergvall has been struck down by bad coaching and injuries this season, but he is a phenomenal footballer and athlete who crashes the box and makes big plays. Like Gray, he will benefit a ton from De Zerbi's coaching compared to Frank, and he is not someone Tottenham will want to lose to Real Madrid or Chelsea for pennies on the dollar.

CB Luka Vuskovic

Finally, the most untouchable player on Tottenham 100 percent has to be Luka Vuskovic. There is a strong case to be made that he has been the most impressive center back in world football this season, and his performances for Croatia recently are hinting at a massive World Cup that will take this Bundesliga Player of the Season sleeper (behind Harry Kane and his Bayern Munich friends, of course) to further heights.

Vuskovic is getting looks from Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich - the three most prestigious clubs in the world. If Tottenham lose Vuskovic, that loss will sting long term almost badly as relegation to the Championship. He's that good.

Tottenham Hotspur have only seven games left in the 2025/26 Premier League season to survive the drop, and after throwing the kitchen sink at Roberto De Zerbi, Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange have the man who they are convinced can lead Spurs out of both short term trouble and into long term contention for championships - not, you know, THE Championship.

In order to do that, though, De Zerbi is going to need some better players. There are a few real gems in the side like Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, but there are many more overrated underperformers and veteran players who will never be good enough for a top six - or even top ten - team in this league.

It will be tough to convince top players to join Tottenham even if they survive the drop, because they won't have European football next season. But suddenly, despite Rangers hopes of keeping him, Spurs can count on winger and attacking midfield option Mikey Moore to make his way back to the N17. Provided, of course, De Zerbi wants him. And, uh, why wouldn't he in this desperate state?

Mikey Moore clearly loves Tottenham

Speaking in an interview with The Athletic's Jordan Campbell, Moore stated that he is hoping to make an impact in the Tottenham Hotspur first team either next year or the season after and waxed poetic about how much he loves Spurs.

Moore said, "Whether it's next year or the year after, I want to break in and make an impact. I helped out in some Premier League games and gave a good account of myself and in others I didn't show enough. But now I'm at a point where I can make an impact. If that opportunity comes I would love to get a hold of it. It's a club I care about so much. For us to be in the position we're in is not nice. Sometimes I wish I could go back and help but there are some top players there who should be able to help get us out of the position we're in and push on next season."

While Mikey Moore does not get the final say on whether or not he is a Tottenham first team player in 2026/27, which he himself admitted in the opening line about "or the year after", it sounds like if it were up to him, he would forego playing for Rangers for one more season. And he certainly does not come across like someone who wants to stay at Rangers or play somewhere else.

No, Moore comes off like a young man who is madly in love with Tottenham and desperate to take the team back to the top. He may not be the finished product, but in leading the way for Rangers in so many games this season and improving as the campaign went on, he has shown he is both good enough and ready to chip in. Now, let's see if Tottenham will accept this injection of talent.

Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange were sold on Roberto De Zerbi as both the short term answer to the Tottenham Hotspur relegation fight and the long term answer to the question of who forges the next era of the club.

Even though De Zerbi was initially reluctant to take the Spurs job on in the middle of a relegation fight, Vinai and Lange were able to convince the Italian manager to take the gig immediately by giving him a top salary. And surprisingly, they were able to bring him on even with stipulations that he would have to commit if they get relegated to the EFL Championship (we'll see if that stays true) and would not get a relegation clause if sent down.

But salary wasn't the only thing that convinced De Zerbi to choose Tottenham after all. Judging by the latest report, it may not even have been the real sweetener that got the former Brighton, Marseille, and Sassuolo coach to take on his biggest project yet in Tottenham.

Roberto De Zerbi is getting control

According to a report from Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, via Sport Witness, Tottenham Hotspur are set to make Roberto De Zerbi more than just their coach. Even though it seemed like Spurs were going after a more traditional model with a sporting director and manager setup, De Zerbi will apparently be given a central role in all decisions and will have such a powerful role that he will be like their Sir Alex Ferguson. Any player he wants Tottenham to buy, Gazzetta reports that De Zerbi will be likely to get his picks.

This was all reportedly a key condition to him signing on with Tottenham as their next manager. De Zerbi will have a lot of influence on Spurs transfer policy going forward, and he will also have wider control and say over operations at the club.

It is a level of control given to a manager that would have been unprecedented under Daniel Levy as CEO, as Levy never even gave legendary managerial figures like Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, though the latter was begging for it, this level of say in the dealings of the club.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange were so desperate for De Zerbi right now in the relegation fight that they are willing to hand over a lot of the future policy to one man - a man many fans are far from sold on as the right option.

Tottenham Hotspur supporters were clamoring for the club to hire Mauricio Pochettino as their next manager while in a state of crisis, and even though he could not bolt for Spurs immediately due to his obligations with the United States men's national team ahead of the World Cup, there was hope among the fans that he could be strongly in play during the summer after the World Cup.

Even though Pochettino was an internally discussed option and one of the top two options, he was a seemingly distant No. 2 to Roberto De Zerbi, whom Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham were smitten with.

Spurs were able to throw enough money at De Zerbi to somehow get him to change his mind into not only joining the club immediately, but also in committing to the club even if they were to be relegated to the EFL Championship this season.

Mauricio Pochettino doesn't like his USMNT players

For the Tottenham Hotspur supporters who clearly wanted Mauricio Pochettino much more than they wanted Roberto De Zerbi, the Argentinian manager's latest comments on the struggling United States national team will only make them feel more sad about missing out on Poch.

Because it sounds like Poch doesn't want to be coaching the USMNT in his heart of hearts. After the 5-2 drubbing against Belgium and another dreary 2-0 loss to former World Cup foes Portugal, Pochettino totally threw his players under the bus.

Pochettino lamented about his squad's quailty by stating, via Doug McIntyre of FOX Sports, “Belgium and Portugal both have top-100 players, some players playing that top 100. I think we don't have [that].”

Wow. That is a brutal quote and summation of the players he has at his disposal for the United States, and it is pretty jarring to hear the usually upbeat Pochettino talk about his players like that. While it is mostly true that the quality the USMNT has is way, way below what Belgium and Portugal have, it is weird that Pochettino doesn't think Christian Pulisic is a top 100 player in the world when he's been pretty good for AC Milan in Serie A.

Maybe Pulisic is and maybe he isn't, but he is the face of the United States and is a conceivable enough top 100 player that you'd expect the manager not to say this. And even if he isn't, you still wouldn't want the coach to be saying something like that before the World Cup.

It's the kind of commentary made by a manager who is subtly making it known that he doesn't want to be coaching this team for very long. Pochettino left his heart in Tottenham, but it's too late for him now with the club committed to De Zerbi.

Even though Tottenham Hotspur have been a disaster this season and are just one point above the Premier League relegation zone following their 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest, part of what makes Spurs such a disaster is the fact that they've had a lot of injuries and have underperformed their talent level due to a mix of egoes and horrible coaching from Thomas Frank.

So Roberto De Zerbi joins Spurs with the ability to make a huge mark by getting some very talented footballers to play at their best together. It will be tough, but here are three players who will blossom under De Zerbi.

CM Archie Gray

Even just the brief upgrade from Thomas Frank to Igor Tudor helped the young Tottenham No. 6 shine, as Archie Gray has been the star of Spurs these last few weeks, even in some of the awful losses. Gray has the best ball progression and pure passing ability on the ball of any Tottenham midfielder - or player, in general. De Zerbi will learn to lean on him pretty quickly, and as the focal point of the deep build up, Gray could improve rapidly into true stardom under the Italian manager.

CM Lucas Bergvall

Lucas Bergvall is a phenom, too, and had such a great 2024/25 season for Tottenham Hotspur. He regressed this season due to injury and the fact that Thomas Frank was a horrid coach, constantly playing the Swedish prospect out of position. If De Zerbi can harness the full potential of this box to box monster and give him the freedom to roam and wreck as a true No. 8, he will immediately be close to world class.

AM Xavi Simons

It felt a little bit cheap picking three center midfielders and leaving the likes of Mohammed Kudus and Mathys Tel out of it as key attacking difference makers on the wings, but Xavi Simons is such a talented footballer and has shown real flashes of the superstardom he consistently displayed in league and European competition for both PSV and RB Leipzig previously.

Roberto De Zerbi loves his uber athletic and uber technical creative, box to box hybrid mavens. He was cooking with them at Brighton, Sassuolo, and Shakhtar Donetsk previously, but Simons is the best player he will work with. If he can get him into better positions to affect play in the final third, Simons could be come a double digit assist guy next season pretty easily.

Roberto De Zerbi is the new Tottenham Hotspur manager after Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange did everything they could to convince the Italian manager to commit to them immediately, which included countless dollar signs. But De Zerbi is here, and he may not like the players Spurs have at his disposal. Here are three players he will surely not rate upon his arrival at the club.

CB Radu Dragusin

Although Radu Dragusin played in Serie A at the time Roberto De Zerbi coached in Italy at Sassuolo, he never got much game time as a failed Juventus prospect. It was only later when he emerged at Genoa, and his issue, which Spurs are finding out rapidly, is that he can never play for a top club because he is so atrocious on the ball. Dragusin is a decent defender who works hard, but he is so awful on the ball that De Zerbi will discard him immediately in a system that emphasizes ball security and progression.

CM Conor Gallagher

Conor Gallagher has been an abject failure of a transfer, which anyone with footballing sense who reasoning goes beyond buzz words like "leadership" and "Premier League experience". The man cannot create or even just play the ball forward. De Zerbi is going to pull his hair out until he looks like Daniel Levy dealing with this guy in midfield, because he is the antithesis of the kind of player RDZ values. Gallagher is the worst kind of sideways passer.

Between the two veteran players, the former Brighton man Yves Bissouma will likely be preferred, because he's actually driven the ball forward more often than Gallagher this season for Spurs.

DM Joao Palhinha

Joao Palhinha's days were already starting to look numbered, but now that De Zerbi has arrived as the new Tottenham Hotspur manager, the Portuguese international is all but guaranteed to head back to Bayern Munich with a very uncertain future. He can defend at a high level and even score the occasional banger by surprise, but he is so lacking in quality on the ball that he is only a step above Radu Dragusin as a midfielder.

De Zerbi is going to favor Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray heavily, which will leave Gallagher and Palhinha as clear afterthoughts. And once Rodrigo Bentancur comes back, Palhinha will really have no road to playing time, though he will probably be less hated than Gallagher.

Tottenham Hotspur have thrown the kitchen sink at Roberto De Zerbi, and they have successfully convinced one of the most high profile managers in world football to join them at a time when they are at grave risk of going down to the EFL Championship.

With his attacking minded 4-2-1-3 formation that is almost ubiquituous among the top teams in world fotoball, let's take a look at what his best starting lineup could be, using only the players who are currently available to Tottenham after the March international break.

GK Guglielmo Vicario

It's unclear if Guglielmo Vicario will miss any time at all from this hernia surgery, and although he's been poor this season, if he is pain free after the surgery, you'd have to back him to get back to playing well in goal again.

LB Destiny Udogie

Souza should actually get some play under Roberto De Zerbi and is very promising, but when he is healthy, which is sadly rarely ever, Destiny Udogie is the clear starting left back.

CB Cristian Romero

Cristian Romero will be one of the main beneficiaries of the De Zerbi appointment, in theory at least, and the captain is always going to be a starter for Tottenham.

CB Micky van de Ven

Although Micky van de Ven has been disappointing these last couple of months, there is simply no way he does not start for Spurs under any manager.

RB Pedro Porro

Who else is going to start at right back? Djed Spence? There is no realistic alternative to Pedro Porro.

CM Archie Gray

Archie Gray has been Spurs best player over the last couple of weeks, shining in games in which Spurs have been miserable, such as the 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace. He is one of the best young No. 6's in European football and wanted by a lot of big clubs on the continent, and De Zerbi is going to love having a player with his passing ability and technical quality.

CM Lucas Bergvall

Recently back from injury, Lucas Bergvall is a tremendous young footballer who can change the dynamic of this team alongside Gray. These are two top talents De Zerbi has to make the most of.

AM Xavi Simons

Likewise, Xavi Simons is another talented young midfielder with world class potential, and a big reason why Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham selected De Zerbi was likely a belief that he could bring the best out of these top young footballers in an attacking system.

LW Mathys Tel

Snubbed by Thomas Frank repeatedly, Mathys Tel is the best option Tottenham have on the left wing. He has been as impressive as Gray lately, and if De Zerbi can get him in real goal scoring positions tactically, then he could blossom.

ST Dominic Solanke

Richarlison merits serious consideration here, but Dominic Solanke may be preferred. He has been starting more often lately, and while Richy has more goals and guts, Solanke's all around play and stabilizing presence will give him the nod.

RW Mohammed Kudus

Mohammed Kudus's return could be the missing piece the attack needed. De Zerbi loved Kudus as a transfer target in the past, and he was Tottenham's best player in the first half of the season, by far. He is the one to watch in this front line under the new manager.

Tottenham Hotspur, as was fully expected, announced the hiring of Roberto De Zerbi to replace Igor Tudor, whom he also succeeded at Marseille in his previous coaching stop. De Zerbi enters the job with a lot of skepticism about his attitude and fit at the club, but there is also respect for what he can bring to the table as a tactician.

As Tudor repeatedly would go out of his way to point out at press conferences, De Zerbi steps into a rather unprecedented situation at Tottenham with so many key injuries and with Spurs at real threat of relegation, sitting just one points above London rivals West Ham United.

Although one key player will be coming back from injury in Mohammed Kudus and James Maddison may still be on his way back, too, Spurs could be down yet another important player when the Premier League returns in a couple of weeks with a key battle against Sunderland.

Pape Matar Sarr is injured

Center midfielder Pape Matar Sarr was held out of the match between Senegal and Gambia, with the outlet Press Afrik reporting that he had to miss the game with a shoulder injury. There is no word yet on the nature or severity of the injury, nor is there information on any expected time missed.

Now, there is sufficient time in this international break before Tottenham Hotspur face Sunderland for Sarr to recover, and he isn't a guaranteed starter for Spurs anyway. But he is strongly in the rotation for starts, as only Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall are ahead of him in the pecking order of midfield players. Though with Joao Palhinha recovered from his concussion, the blow of losing Sarr does not hurt as much, and Rodrigo Bentancur may be back relatively soon, too.

Still, Tottenham do not exactly have one of the best midfields in the Premier League, nor are they in a position where they can afford to lose any important players. Sarr works hard for the team and is a decent box to box midfielder who defends well, so a shoulder injury to the Senegal international is another tough blow to a Spurs side that already started the international break with French star left winger Mathys Tel nursing an injury.

Sarr's injury is a reminder that Tottenham have the worst luck in world football right now, and Roberto De Zerbi is going to be fighting against the odds here.

One normal day at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. That's all we ask for.

Stuck in a frightening relegation battle, the decision-makers in N17 have opted for one last huge roll of the dice. Igor Tudor's brief reign simply had to draw to a close after we were beaten so soundly by Nottingham Forest, but the direction they'd opt for next was hotly debated and ultimately unknown.

Most clubs in our current state would opt for a manager with an intimate knowledge of their surroundings; a crowd-pleaser who'd be able to reconnect supporters and playing staff through their presence alone. For Spurs, the elusive "Tottenham man" forced them down an alternate route.

Sean Dyche was reportedly considered but never seriously pursued, and it became clear before Tudor's departure was confirmed on Sunday that they were going to bring forward their next 'long-term' appointment.

Their punt on Tudor backfired drastically, but the mightily unpopular tandem of Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham have doubled. They’ve gone all in. Roberto De Zerbi is our new manager; a move that has left factions of the fanbase aghast and is more likely to divide than unite at a perilous juncture.

No relegation clause in De Zerbi contract points to commitment

I certainly understand why some supporters are so uncomfortable with De Zerbi's arrival, given the backing he offered Mason Greenwood at Marseille.

Manchester United washed their hands of the once-precocious English forward after he was arrested on suspicion of rape and assault in January 2022. Greenwood received multiple charges, including attempted rape, in October of that year, but they were subsequently dropped five months later.

His football career has since blossomed in France, with the extent to which De Zerbi backed Greenwood irking Spurs supporters. He'd be wise to address those concerns right away, at least opening the door for potential understanding and conciliation.

Besides the moral concerns, De Zerbi is known to be combustible and seldom stays in the same job for more than a couple of seasons. Think of him as Antonio Conte without the silverware.

He'd been hesitant to take the job on with seven games of the season remaining, with many suggesting, once talks started to progress positively, that De Zerbi would exit with a hefty payout in the event of our relegation.

However, BBC Sport are among those to report that no relegation get-out clause has been included in his five-year contract. They've also suggested that the Italian is committed to a long-term project in north London, even if Spurs are forced to spend 2026/27 in the second tier.

I'll have to see it to believe it, but what the aforementioned details mean is that De Zerbi is contractually obliged to stick with the club in the Championship. Perhaps it evokes conviction that there's no chance of our demise despite the current peril, or is De Zerbi merely confident that one of his tantrums will be enough for the hierarchy to cut ties?

The financial gamble here can't be understated, even if we won't have to pay out the entirety of his contract if he's only here for a few weeks, but those in charge view De Zerbi as their best chance of escaping the humiliation of a first relegation in almost 50 years, and the monetary issues that'll arise in that apocalyptic event.

Although Roberto De Zerbi was not initially interested in joining Tottenham Hotspur as their manager and preferred instead to wait until after the season ended, Spurs have seemingly been successful in getting the former Brighton and Marseille manager to change his mind simpy by throwing a ton of money at him.

De Zerbi is now willing to join Tottenham immediately to help them avoid relegation from the Premier League, even though part of the reason why he was initially uninterested in the Spurs job was because he wanted to see if the club could manage to stay up in the top flight.

Tottenham's Vinai Venkatesham and Johan Lange, left with very little alternative options in the short term, believe that De Zerbi is both the guy who can save them from the EFL Championship and also lead the team into the future. They are willing to spend big on De Zerbi and take themselves off the table for a reunion with Mauricio Pochettino, who is the fans' No. 1 choice to coach Spurs.

Roberto De Zerbi may not get immediate results

Well, the last time Roberto De Zerbi freshly joined a Premier League team, he took over for Brighton in late September and early October in the 2022/23 season for Graham Potter, who went to Chelsea. De Zerbi drew his first game 3-3 to Liverpool, but he did not win a single of his first five games until he battled Chelsea's Potter and beat him 4-1.

De Zebri eventually got into the swing of things and had a strong first season with the Seagulls, but it took him a handful of games to get his ideas properly implemented before the flourished. In those first five games, he only got two points, including shutout losses to Tottenham Hotspur and Thomas Frank's Brentford.

Although De Zerbi has good tactical ideas, they are not basic principles that can be implemented immediately in a squad that has struggled to maintain possession and create chances this season. He has also never been asked to turn things around at a club in trouble; this is going to be the first time De Zerbi is tasked with being a relegation specialist.

Tottenham will be paying him handsomely for his efforts, but money spent is not always proprotional to results. Spurs are missing an important point about De Zerbi's track record. Results may not be as immediate as what they want or what they are paying for, and if they go down, he could easily leave with all his earnings.