Marseille used the summer window to clear the mess left behind by Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi.
That’s according to Foot Marseille, an outlet dedicating their coverage on the Ligue 1 side.
Tottenham move after Marseille exit
The Premier League side appointed the Italian as their manager in March. He returned to England just over a month after leaving Marseille. His immediate task was to help them avoid relegation, and he successfully achieved it.
Spurs have backed him heavily in the summer window by spending well over €350m on Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Sávio, Jan Paul van Hecke and Tosin Adarabioyo.
They also signed Marcos Senesi, Andrew Robertson and Martin Dúbravka for free, and Omar Marmoush and Mykhailo Mudryk on loan. The north London club have an obligation to buy the Egyptian. This will take Roberto De Zerbi’s spending beyond €400m.
Tottenham Hotspur have a point from first three league matches and are yet to score in the Premier League. Their only win this season was against Charlton Athletic in the EFL Cup.
Roberto De Zerbi left Brighton & Hove Albion at the end of the 2023/24 season and joined Marseille in July 2024.
The Italian helped the Ligue 1 side finish second in the table, behind title winners Paris Saint-Germain, in his first season. This was mainly possible because their owner, Frank McCourt, had backed him in the transfer market.
Spurs boss’ mess at Marseille
In his first year, Marseille spent over €120m on new signings. They spent a large chunk of it on Mason Greenwood [€38.5m], Elye Wahi [€27m], Amine Gouiri [€19m] and Ismaël Koné [€12m]. Only Gouiri is still at the club.
In De Zerbi’s second season, the French club spent just over €110m, and more than half of it was on Igor Paixão [€30m], Nayef Aguerd [€23m] and Jonathan Rowe [€14.5m]. The latter is no longer at the club.
The other two came close to leaving in the summer. Marseille president Stéphane Richard had a direct role in stopping Paixão’s sale to Sunderland.
Marseille went through a difficult summer where they had to sell several of their starts to raise funds. To put it in context, the Ligue 1 side raised around €90m.
Foot Marseille says the club’s owner spent significantly on fees and salaries to please De Zerbi. However, when the manager left, Marseille ‘paid a heavy price’.
In fact, the French club spent the summer ‘cleaning up the mess, and fans will remember it for a long time’. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg was part of the mess.
Marseille wanted to get rid of him because of his high salary. Newcastle United offered an escape route, but he turned them down. This didn’t please his employer, who punished him by taking away the armband.
The Italian has replicated his Marseille transfer strategy at Tottenham Hotspur.
The outlet states: ‘De Zerbi offered his strategy to Tottenham. And Spurs are doing as McCourt did: they’re paying! More than €350m was spent this summer.’
Spurs and their supporters can only hope the Marseille situation doesn’t have the same ending in London.
