On August 30 at 00:30 Beijing time (CEST), Tottenham Hotspur will host Newcastle United in the second round of the Premier League. Following the end of the media embargo, the confidential portion of Tottenham Hotspur manager De Zerbi's pre-match press conference was released. This article covers the first part of that content.

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Regarding this summer's signings, I want to bring up Sandro Tonali. Obviously, he will face Newcastle United eventually. Tottenham has never spent £100 million on a single player before, which is enough to attract attention and admiration from the entire football world. Why is he worth such a high transfer fee?

Do you want to talk about Tottenham, or do you want to talk about strong teams and big clubs in the Premier League? Because we can broaden the scope of the discussion, since everyone's focus is: are transfer market prices in the Premier League reasonable or unreasonable? I think the answer is that in the Premier League, this is a completely different transfer market. The value of Premier League players is completely different from other markets in Europe.

The reason Sandro Tonali costs this price is because he is one of the best and most important midfielders in the Premier League. He received two lucrative offers from two other top Premier League clubs – it's not appropriate to name those two clubs directly, but they were really two major clubs. They competed fiercely with us to sign him, but he wanted to come here himself, and I hear the fans are very happy with this signing.

We have to accept this, just as we do with the players we sold. I think some players were sold at a high price, and we also brought in players at a high price. Tonali is only 26 now, not 30. If you analyze the Premier League transfer market, you'll find that transfer fees for 30-year-old players are also similar to Sandro's price. So what is the truth? And what is the answer? I don't know. But I think in this transfer market, in this country, in this league, in 2026 now, his value as one of the best midfielders in the Premier League is a fair price.

Over the past two seasons, this club failed to meet expectations in the Premier League table. In this situation, how important is it that you've made significant moves frequently in the transfer window with considerable impact?

Not entirely. What really plays a decisive role is the owner's attitude and ambition. Because these players come here not because of me, or only because I need them. Tottenham is... I depend on the club, yes, I'm an employee of the club, not the owner. But there's no doubt that it's the owner's ambition that brought fundamental change. Because the owner worked hard to finalize these signings, the owner's ambition is really great, right? That ambition has been transmitted to each of us – players, the board, staff, and myself, inspiring us to do better.

At the same time, we can't forget that we are Tottenham Hotspur. Tottenham Hotspur, whether from a historical perspective, the stadium, or the fans, deserves to compete at the top of the table. I don't know if we can fully achieve that from now on, but our plan is to reach that level.

What qualities can he bring to the team's midfield to change things? What kind of mentality will he have facing his former club at the start of the season?

To be honest, he is much better than I imagined before working with him. I've said many times before, he's a smart guy, an intelligent player, and very clean with the ball. Perhaps some people think he's a player who focuses on running and pressing with average technical details, but that's not true. He's a very complete midfielder, capable of playing both as a number 6 and as a number 8. He has the intensity needed to play in the Premier League, and we're very satisfied with him.

Looking at the attacking line, after Omar Marmoush joined, you now have seven top-level attacking options. Considering the team has no European competition this season, wouldn't adding one more, reaching eight attacking players, be a bit much?

Generally speaking, to build a squad that can handle 40, 45, or 50 matches in a single season, each position needs two players. If you look at the squad when I arrived last season, if you also include the number 10 position, there were actually more than eight attacking players; now there are seven. Who are they? Kudus, Savio, Marmoush, Richarlison, Solanke, Tel, and Odobert. Odobert suffered a serious injury and will be out for a long time; he won't be able to play until February or March next year. And, perhaps one of these players may leave before the transfer window closes – I don't think we have too many players.

Furthermore, if you look at last season, not just Tottenham, all teams and clubs in the Premier League suffered a large number of injuries, didn't they? I hope Kudus can return without problems after six months of injury. I would be very, very happy to see Kulusevski back in the squad. I want to include Kulusevski because he works hard and performs very well. He's a great guy, and he's a distinctive player. Additionally, Xavi Simons won't be ready until March or April, so I think we need this number of players.

I was about to ask about Kulusevski, and you've almost answered the question, but will you definitely include him in the Premier League squad?

If he feels as good as he does now, yes, I'd love to include him. Yes, he's improving every day, and it's really great to see him perform in training. And he deserves it, because in his career, at his age, and as a person, not just as a player, he's endured a lot of suffering. I'm speaking as a person, and he deserves to be in the squad.

Can you tell us where you went to dinner? Which restaurant was it?

An Italian restaurant, and I paid the bill, right? So don't write anything about me having conflicts with the club during pre-season in Australia, because that's false, it's not true. We went to an Italian restaurant and had a very, very pleasant meal.

Traduzido por IA.

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