Tottenham Have Spent Big. So Why Do They Look Worse?

Tottenham have lost their opening two Premier League matches, failed to score and sit at the bottom of the table.

Roberto De Zerbi finished last season by keeping Spurs in the Premier League after taking over a side that had spent much of the campaign in genuine danger. Tottenham finished 17th, but survival gave the club a chance to properly reset. The summer window then appeared to give De Zerbi exactly what he needed.

Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dúbravka arrived before Spurs invested heavily in Jan Paul van Hecke, Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes. They then continued spending on attacking talent, bringing in Sávio and Omar Marmoush before completing deadline day deals for Tosin Adarabioyo and Mykhailo Mudryk.

Spurs have spent around £320m rebuilding the squad, with some reports putting their overall summer business even higher, depending on how the various deals are structured. The intention is obvious. Tottenham did not want another season spent looking over their shoulders.

They have bought experience, technical quality and players already proven at the highest level. Van Hecke and Senesi strengthen the defence, Robertson brings leadership and Tonali and Mateus Fernandes give De Zerbi a completely different level of quality in midfield.

Up front, however, the situation remains considerably more complicated.

Spurs Have Built A Squad. They Still Need To Build A Team

The opening two games have exposed the problem.

Spurs were comfortably beaten 3-0 by Brentford and then lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle. They have yet to score this season, and De Zerbi himself admitted after the Brentford defeat that his new side were not yet functioning as a team.

That description was damning but honestly accurate.

Tottenham have added so many players that the squad has changed almost beyond recognition in one summer. De Zerbi started four new signings against Brentford and introduced Mateus Fernandes from the bench, while the subsequent defeat to Newcastle again showed a team with plenty of quality but lacking the understanding and cohesion required to turn that quality into results.

The Newcastle result was particularly frustrating because Spurs were not completely outplayed. They created chances and finished with 17 shots, but Newcastle scored twice from their only two shots on target.

Spurs have Kudus, Xavi Simons, Tel, Odobert, Solanke, Richarlison, Sávio, Marmoush and now Mudryk competing across the attacking positions. Dejan Kulusevski remains another major attacking asset once his situation is resolved.

The individual quality is obvious, but what about the balance? That is sorely missing.

There are simply too many players competing for too few places, and several of them will expect to play regularly. De Zerbi now has the difficult job of quickly establishing a hierarchy while ensuring that players who have just arrived for major fees and high wages do not spend the season on the bench.

Did Deadline Day Help Spurs?

Tottenham entered deadline day with a bloated squad and several players facing increasingly limited opportunities, making departures just as important as any business the club had planned to complete. 

Kevin Danso joined Sunderland on loan, Pape Matar Sarr moved to Juventus on loan, and Kota Takai joined Sint-Truidense. Those departures were important because Spurs had spent much of the summer adding players without creating enough space within the squad.

The outgoings have therefore helped, but they have not completely solved the problem. Several players remain at the club despite uncertainty surrounding their futures, particularly in attack, where the competition for places is still far greater than the number of regular starting opportunities available.

Richarlison's move to Everton collapsed, meaning another experienced forward remains at the club despite the arrivals of Sávio, Marmoush and Mudryk. The Brazilian now has to compete with Solanke, Tel, Odobert and several others for minutes.

Mudryk is also an interesting gamble.

His Chelsea career never came close to matching the enormous fee paid for him, and he has not played competitively since his suspension began in 2024. His ban was reduced on appeal, and he returned to football this summer, with Tottenham completing the loan because De Zerbi already knows the player from their time together at Shakhtar Donetsk.

That relationship could make the move work. De Zerbi knows what Mudryk can offer and, more importantly, knows how he wants to use him. Spurs are not signing an unknown quantity in that sense.

But Mudryk also adds another attacking player to an already overcrowded group.

That is why Tottenham's window remains difficult to judge cleanly.

The club did good business, but on the flip side, they also created an enormous amount of work for their manager.

There Is Too Much Quality At Spurs For The Start To Be Ignored

Tottenham should not be bottom of the Premier League with zero points and zero goals after spending more than £300m.

That does not mean De Zerbi should be judged after two games, but the performances deserve scrutiny.

The Brentford defeat was unacceptable. Spurs lost too many duels, struggled to impose themselves and looked completely disconnected. The Newcastle game was an improvement in terms of possession and chance creation, but the same underlying issues remained. Spurs conceded when the game turned against them and never found a response in the final third.

De Zerbi has repeatedly spoken about the need to improve the connection among his players, the spacing between units, and the group's mentality.

That is now the central task.

Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Van Hecke, Robertson, Senesi, Kudus, Simons, Sávio, Marmoush, Van de Ven, Porro, Bergvall and Archie Gray give Tottenham individual talent that should comfortably put them in the conversation for European football.

The squad is no longer short of options. You can argue that it is actually overloaded with options.

Spurs have spent the summer trying to fix almost every weakness exposed during the last two seasons. The transfer committee deserve credit for ambition because this was not a cautious rebuild. Tottenham identified experience, midfield quality, and attacking depth, and spent heavily to acquire them.

But recruitment only takes a club so far.

De Zerbi now has to decide who his best players are, who his starters are and how the team is supposed to function when the new signings are finally integrated.

The manager himself has already said Spurs are not a team yet. That is probably the most important sentence spoken about Tottenham's season so far.

Because on paper, this is a much better squad than the one that finished 17th.

Spurs have given De Zerbi the players and the resources. Can he at least match what Mauricio Pochettino did at Spurs?