Seventeen years without a trophy. A relegation battle survived on the final day by the narrowest of margins. And then, somehow, a Europa League title in 2025 that put 250,000 people on the streets of north London. Tottenham Hotspur are a lot of things, but boring isn't one of them.
The question heading into 2026-27 is whether Roberto De Zerbi's summer spending spree has genuinely fixed the club's structural problems, or whether it's papered over cracks that will reappear the moment things get difficult again.
What last season actually told us
Strip away the Europa League euphoria and the 2025-26 league campaign was genuinely alarming. Forty-one points. An expected goals difference barely better than Leicester's when they went down in 2022-23. Survival dependent on Pablo fouling David Raya, Joao Palhinha scrambling in late goals, and Aston Villa tanking a match before their Europa League semi. A club generating over $750 million in annual revenue nearly dropped into the Championship. Let that land for a second.
De Zerbi arrived mid-season and pulled off eleven points from his final seven games — fifth-best xGD in the division during that stretch. Competent management in a crisis. But a crisis that shouldn't have happened in the first place.
The rebuild this summer has been sweeping. Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes have arrived in midfield for a combined fee approaching $250 million. Fernandes is the more exciting acquisition — a young prospect who fits the profile of players De Zerbi transformed at Brighton, like Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister. Tonali is harder to justify at nine figures. Solid at Newcastle, yes. A proven difference-maker? Not obviously. What softens the concern is that De Zerbi knows him personally from Brescia, and reportedly needed just a ten-minute phone call to close the deal. Sometimes relationships matter more than the spreadsheet.
A new defensive spine — with one question mark
Cristian Romero is heading to Atletico Madrid, and however talented he is, that's the right call. A club captain who had to be persuaded to return from Argentina for a relegation decider has run out of goodwill. Djed Spence follows him out the door, reportedly to Inter Milan.
What replaces them is largely sensible. Marco Senesi arrives on a free from Bournemouth, bringing the passing range this squad desperately needed at the back. Andy Robertson adds experience alongside Destiny Udogie at left back. Jan Paul van Hecke, signed from Brighton, gives them a physically capable, Premier League-tested centre back.
The one risk is what they gave up to get Van Hecke: Luka Vuskovic, 19, who was arguably one of the best defenders in the Bundesliga on loan at Hamburg last season. Trading a player of that ceiling for the security of Van Hecke is an understandable decision after two near-misses — but in five years it could look like a costly failure of nerve.
In attack, De Zerbi has hinted at a "bomba" signing still to come. Savinho from Manchester City is reportedly close, and Cody Gakpo has been linked. Both are genuinely useful additions. Neither is a bomba. If there's a surprise name coming, it needs to arrive soon — the frontline is thin and inexperienced, and that's where last season's damage was done most visibly.
- Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes signed for ~$250m combined
- Marco Senesi (free), Andy Robertson, Jan Paul van Hecke added defensively
- Cristian Romero set to join Atletico Madrid; Djed Spence to Inter Milan
- Goalkeeper situation: Kinsky likely first choice if Vicario returns to Italy; Dubravka as backup
- Attack still unsettled — Savinho and Gakpo linked, "bomba" signing hinted
The realistic ceiling for 2026-27 is a mid-table finish with some stability and a clearer identity. That's not nothing after last season. But the model that got Spurs into trouble — buying young athletes on potential and hoping the coaching turns them into a team — is uncomfortably similar to what they're doing again. The difference this time is De Zerbi, who has actually done this before, and a transfer window that has prioritised experience alongside youth.
Their 60,000-seat stadium and global commercial pull means the path back to the top six exists eventually. Whether this squad is built to walk it, or just built to stay upright, is what this season will answer. Spurs' odds of a top-six finish should be viewed with real caution — there's a lot of new parts to bed in, and the Premier League doesn't hand out time for that.
