Roberto De Zerbi says he believes Lucas Bergvall wants to stay at Tottenham Hotspur, regardless of informing the membership of his desire to hunt a brand new problem elsewhere.
Bergvall performed a bit-part position as De Zerbi saved Tottenham within the Premier League in a dramatic seven-game stretch to shut final season. In an injury-disrupted marketing campaign, the Swede was restricted to twenty-eight appearances within the Premier League with 11 begins, solely considered one of which got here underneath the Italian.
In June, The Athletic reported Bergvall’s need to hunt a recent alternative to play extra first-team soccer in his most well-liked No 8 place. Over the summer time, Tottenham have rebuffed approaches from Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United for the 20-year-old, and the pinnacle coach has now mentioned his future is in north London.
“Lucas Bergvall, 100 per cent,” De Zerbi mentioned when requested whether or not Bergvall wants to stay at Tottenham. “We spoke a lot in pre-season. He’s a top player, a top potential player. I like he stays, but I think now he wants to stay and we have no problem.”
A supply near Bergvall, talking anonymously as a result of they weren’t authorised to take action publicly, confirmed that there had been constructive discussions between the participant and Spurs on a improvement plan for him, however identified that he nonetheless had choices within the switch market whereas the window remained open.
Bergvall has been considered one of Tottenham’s excellent gamers in pre-season, typically taking part in as one half of a midfield pivot. He began in Tottenham’s 1-1 draw in opposition to Sydney FC, taking part in 45 minutes in midfield with Archie Gray, earlier than impressing alongside Sandro Tonali in Tottenham’s 2-1 and 3-0 wins over Chelsea and Hoffenheim, respectively.
He may very well be in line to start out Tottenham’s first sport of the Premier League season in opposition to Brentford, with £85million ($116m) signing Mateus Fernandes nonetheless working his means again from a minor damage that has disrupted his pre-season, although the Portugal worldwide is ready to make the matchday squad.
De Zerbi mentioned final month that he wants Bergvall to stay at Spurs (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
De Zerbi is well-stocked in midfield and added that he would favor a “21, 22” participant squad over 25 or 26, suggesting there might but be extra departures.
At his pre-match press convention, he was requested about the way forward for Pape Matar Sarr.
“For Pape, he started pre-season late because he stayed in Senegal until first week in August, I think,” De Zerbi mentioned. “He’s a good player. I don’t know if he stays or not we have to analyse the situation. But he is another very, very important player.”
Tottenham are already assured to recoup nicely over £100m in gross sales this summer time, after the departures of Luka Vuskovic to Brighton & Hove Albion, Cristian Romero to Atletico Madrid, Djed Spence to Inter and Guglielmo Vicario, who has left on a season-long mortgage to Juventus, amongst others. While he mentioned Tottenham should not more likely to look to exchange Spence as a back-up right-back, owing to Gray’s skill to function in that place, De Zerbi expressed his disappointment at shedding Spence, who had a breakout summer time with England on the World Cup.
“First of all, I’m really disappointed with Djed because I love him and we have a great relationship,” the Italian mentioned. “He’s a very good guy. He’s a very important player. But in the end, I have to respect if he wants to play 38 games, I can’t give any guarantee for the players, especially if we are building a big competition inside of the squad.”
Tottenham are on the verge of completing a deal for Manchester City winger Savinho, and Omar Marmoush might quickly comply with him. Still, De Zerbi says Spurs should not completed available in the market.
“It’s not right to speak about the players until they are official. Just to say, I’m very happy. We have not finished yet in the transfer market. It’s an important part, I think. Because so far we have had a great summer of signings. Great players, great behaviour, great spirit, great personality. But you know better than me in the Premier League, you don’t win the game with the names, with the big players.”