Tottenham's Ambitious Rebuild: Tonali and New Signings

Tottenham have spent two seasons staring down, not up. Back‑to‑back 17th-place finishes, a fanbase fraying at the edges and a final day last year that felt less like football and more like survival instinct. Europa League glory in 2024-25 offered a glint of silver, but it also masked a brutal reality: this is a club that has been flirting with the trapdoor.

Roberto De Zerbi walked into that chaos midstream, picking up a managerial baton that slipped from the hands of Thomas Frank and Igor Tudor. He steadied the ship just in time, dragged Spurs over the line and away from relegation, and has now been handed a very clear message from the board: no more basement battles.

The response has been aggressive. And expensive.

Tonali, London and the lure of being “the main man”

Italy international Tonali is the headline act of a lavish recruitment drive. Spurs have thrown huge money at him, at ex-West Ham midfielder Mateus Fernandes and at former Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke. Rival clubs circled, but Tottenham got the deals done. That alone tells its own story about their pull.

Yet the obvious question hangs over Tonali’s arrival: is this about football, or is this about London and a pay packet?

Danny Murphy, speaking to GOAL in association with BetWright, didn’t dodge the subject. “I think it would be naive to think that London isn't a pull for a lot of the foreign boys,” the ex-Tottenham midfielder said. He’s lived it, he’s heard it from players. The capital seduces.

Murphy’s instinct is blunt. If one of what he calls “the really big boys” – Man U, Man City, Liverpool – had matched Tottenham’s financial muscle and pushed as hard, Tonali might have chosen them. Because most elite players, he points out, don’t pick a postcode over trophies.

But Spurs had two trump cards. London. And money.

“The one advantage you have going to Tottenham, other than London, is the financial side. They've really pushed the boat out to get him,” Murphy said, suggesting other suitors simply didn’t go that far. Tottenham stretched themselves. Tonali felt it.

There is, though, a third strand. One that actually matters on the pitch.

Murphy highlighted the conversations that shape these moves – not with agents or sporting directors, but with the coach. Players want more than a contract; they want a role. They want to know if they are central or disposable, guaranteed starters or rotation pieces.

“Maybe if there was interest from elsewhere, there wasn't a guarantee you're always going to play,” he said. He’s seen it before: a footballer turning down the shinier badge to become “the main man” somewhere else. Every week. Every game.

Tonali has that at Tottenham. A midfield built around him. Phenomenal wages. London life. “I would imagine the mix of being the main man in the middle of the park, phenomenal wages, and London probably was a mixture of all three,” Murphy said. Not greed alone. Not geography alone. A cocktail.

He doesn’t like to think players move purely for money or location. It happens, he admits. But in Tonali he sees a “terrific signing” who will “really improve them”, whatever the cost.

A heavy squad, a light schedule, and a delicate balance

Tonali is not arriving into a vacuum. Spurs have been busy. Van Hecke and Fernandes bring Premier League knowledge and promise. The spine is being rebuilt with players who know the tempo and the brutality of the division.

Murphy views it as “a statement of intent, much needed.” Tottenham look like a club trying to jump off the treadmill of mediocrity and back into the pack that matters.

There is a catch. Several, in fact.

“At the moment, until the dealings are all done, they've got a heavy squad anyway,” Murphy warned. No European football strips away midweek minutes. There are no Thursday nights to share around, no extra competitions to soothe egos. Just the Premier League. One game a week. One team to pick.

That turns squad depth into a management problem. Keeping 25 senior players content when only 11 start and a handful come off the bench is a test of man-management as much as tactics. De Zerbi will have to be ruthless and persuasive in equal measure.

Murphy can see the storm clouds. Unless Tottenham oversee what he calls “a bit of an exodus”, frustration will brew. And shifting players is never simple.

“The problem with that, of course, is a lot of them who were poor last season, who were on good wages, how many takers have they got?” he asked. Underperformers on big contracts rarely fly off the shelf. There is “still some work to do at Tottenham”, even if he likes the shape of the early business.

Top six or bust?

Strip away the noise and the picture sharpens. Van Hecke? Murphy likes him. Fernandes? He likes him too. James Maddison returning to full tilt? That, he believes, is a “big plus” because everyone knows what the playmaker brings when he’s fit and confident.

So where does this leave Tottenham in the pecking order?

Murphy doesn’t indulge in fantasy. Top four, he says, “might be a push to jump that high so quickly.” The gap from 17th to the Champions League is not bridged in one summer, however bold the spending.

But top six? That, in his view, “has got to be a realistic ambition.” With Tonali orchestrating, Maddison supplying, new signings stiffening the spine and De Zerbi given authority to trim the fat, Spurs should be aiming at the European places, not glancing nervously at the bottom three.

The money has been spent. The coach has his backing. The squad is heavy, the fixture list is light, and the excuses are running out.

Tottenham wanted to prove they are still a big draw. Now they have to prove they are a big team again.