Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi wanted to reunite with Marseille’s Amine Gouiri at the Premier League side in the summer window.
The Italian joined the Ligue 1 side in July 2024 and left them in February. A month later, he arrived at Tottenham and helped them avoid relegation from the top flight last season.
Spurs backed their manager heavily in the summer window, spending over €350m on new signings. De Zerbi also wanted to bring in a striker, mainly his former player.
The France-born Algerian international joined Marseille from Stade Rennais in January 2025. He managed 26 goals and 10 assists from 53 matches, and 17 goals and six assists were under De Zerbi.
Tottenham’s summer interest
In August, Sport Witness covered a report from Italy explaining that Spurs posed a threat for Napoli in the race to sign the 26-year-old in the summer window. A move never took shape, and he’s still at the French club.
Marseille have scored 18 goals in the league this season and Amine Gouiri had a hand in seven [five goals and two assists] of them.
La Provence, a newspaper local to the French club, have a report focusing on his drop in form this season despite the impressive statistics.
Last season, he managed 11 goals and five assists from 28 matches while dealing with multiple injuries. The newspaper believes these setbacks are hampering his performances this season.
Approach made by Tottenham
Marseille boss Bruno Génésio previously managed the player at Lyon, handing him his first team debut. The Spurs target was happy when the club appointed him as their manager before the start of this season.
La Provence then states: ‘The transfer window quickly swept away this good news. Like all his teammates, the Lyon native was for sale. His future could have changed overnight. Uncertainty lingered until August.’
Atlético Madrid initially showed interest and Tottenham Hotspur then joined the chase.
In fact, Spurs, led by Roberto De Zerbi, ‘came knocking’. It’s not clear whether the contact was with his camp, Marseille or both.
It won’t matter now because a move didn’t go through, mainly because the north London club couldn’t offload Richarlison or Dominic Solanke. One of them had to leave for Spurs to sign Amine Gouiri.
De Zerbi has left the Brazilian out of his plans, and he could change clubs in January. If that were to happen, it’s unclear whether Gouiri will arrive at Tottenham.
