On September 5 at 22:00 British Summer Time (BST), Tottenham Hotspur will play away against Nottingham Forest in the 3rd round of the Premier League. Following the expiration of the media embargo, the confidential section of Tottenham Hotspur head coach De Zerbi's pre-match press conference was published. This article is the first part of that material.

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【De Zerbi: Signing Mykhailo Mudryk was not a temporary solution; he was the perfect piece of our puzzle at the time】

Tottenham Hotspur haven't received a single penalty this season. In fact, they didn't receive any penalties last Premier League season either. I believe Harry Kane scored Spurs' last Premier League penalty. Do you think there's a reason behind this? Why is this happening? Perhaps you've discussed it with the Professional Referees' Association?

No, no, no, no, no, because as a head coach I already have to deal with an enormous number of extremely complex problems. I can't get distracted by referees and waste my energy on that. I think it's pure coincidence, yes.

Let's talk about injured players. Dejan Kulusevski has returned to training. Do you have a timeline for his return?

Dejan Kulusevski started training with us at the beginning of this week, and then over the last two days a minor, extremely insignificant injury has slowed him down. But I think his recovery is going well, and he's getting back into shape. Everything is progressing very smoothly. I've already said that our medical team is of a very high level, so I think we can remain very positive and optimistic about his recovery. I'm also looking forward to Dejan's swift return to the squad.

So this minor injury shouldn't keep him out of training for too long, right?

No, no, no, no impact at all; it's not a serious issue.

And one last question, just about the signing of Mykhailo Mudryk and some of the transfer targets you seem to have. In making these signings, are you deliberately trying to avoid blocking Luka Williams-Barnett's path to the first team? Was that a serious consideration for you?

Yes, yes, but he's still very young, he's really too young. If the right playing opportunity arises in the future where Luka can play, I will definitely give him that chance. But in any case, we need to manage and develop him, as well as another excellent young player Malachy Sarr, in the most appropriate and correct way.

Going back to what you just mentioned about working with Mykhailo Mudryk. The situation at Donetsk Shakhtar was obviously very unique, and with the start of the war, their position was also extremely tragic. Can you give us more details? Tell us what it was like to train and work with him under such extremely difficult and harsh circumstances?

I developed him at that time. I personally brought him through from the U21 youth team and promoted him to the first team. I gave him that very important starting opportunity by having him start against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. He was very, very young then, just 20 years old, and he performed quite well. It was his first full season with the first team, so at that time he sometimes played extremely well and sometimes his performances fluctuated, but that's a necessary process for young players' development.

After that, he left Donetsk Shakhtar and joined Chelsea. I think he paid an enormous psychological and social price because it was a completely different league, a new country, and a giant club on an entirely different scale and level, and he carried extremely heavy pressure and responsibility because he was well aware of his transfer fee—he knew the huge transfer sum Chelsea paid to acquire him.

But for a young player with the potential to become a superstar, isn't going through these ups and downs a normal part of development? And now, I think he's 25 years old, and he's at the right moment to have the golden period of his career at a top club. I think now is his best opportunity to fully demonstrate his true quality.

Do you feel that his desire and hunger to prove his abilities to the world is stronger than most players'? Because, to be honest, in the early stages of his arrival in the Premier League, before his suspension, he was a bit sluggish, then the suspension happened, but fortunately it's now been properly resolved. I can imagine that deep down he must have accumulated and harbored a huge sense of disappointment and determination to prove himself...

Yes, I hope that can be the key to unlocking his potential. But Mykhailo Mudryk truly loves football; he was born for football. In terms of professional attitude, mental strength, and unwavering belief in hard work, I've seen very few players who reach his level. During regular mid-week training sessions, his training intensity and volume often exceed those of his teammates by a factor of two. Perhaps in official matches he still needs to focus more on the ball itself, on the team's overall technical and tactical work, and at the same time he should demand more of himself to release more energy, because his true talent and quality are actually much stronger than what he's shown so far.

And one final question: this transfer window has been unprecedentedly frenzied in terms of bringing in new players. At Tottenham, I think we've never seen the club's management invest such enormous sums of money in transfers before. You yourself said last week that the number of transfer deals ultimately exceeded your expectations, which has undoubtedly excited devoted Spurs fans. But with the completion of these massive deals, does this bring you implicit additional pressure to achieve satisfactory results?

No, I don't think so. Currently I'm very satisfied; our work has been very effective, and I think the club has made a number of very good moves in this transfer market. I don't feel any heavy burden because we've spent a lot of money, because in my opinion other giant Premier League clubs also spend large sums on players, perhaps even more than us, so this is not pressure at all. The real pressure is always about how well we play, how quickly we get good points and results, but that pressure is certainly not related to the transfer market and the amount of money spent.

Переведено ИИ.

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