Roberto De Zerbi claims Lucas Bergvall wants Tottenham stay

Roberto De Zerbi says he believes Lucas Bergvall wants to remain at Tottenham Hotspur, despite informing the club of his preference to seek a new challenge elsewhere.

Bergvall played a bit-part role as De Zerbi kept Tottenham in the Premier League in a dramatic seven-game stretch to close last season. In an injury-disrupted campaign, the Swede was limited to 28 appearances in the Premier League with 11 starts, only one of which came under the Italian.

In June, The Athletic reported Bergvall’s desire to seek a fresh opportunity to play more first-team football in his preferred No 8 position. Over the summer, Tottenham have rebuffed approaches from Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United for the 20-year-old, and the head coach has now said his future is in north London.

“Lucas Bergvall, 100 per cent,” De Zerbi said when asked whether 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.”

Bergvall has been one of Tottenham’s outstanding players in pre-season, often playing as one half of a midfield pivot. He started in Tottenham’s 1-1 draw against Sydney FC, playing 45 minutes in midfield with Archie Gray, before impressing alongside Sandro Tonali in Tottenham’s 2-1 and 3-0 wins over Chelsea and Hoffenheim, respectively.

He could be in line to start Tottenham’s first game of the Premier League season against Brentford, with £85million ($116m) signing Mateus Fernandes still working his way back from a minor injury that has disrupted his pre-season, though the Portugal international is set to make the matchday squad.

De Zerbi said last month that he wants Bergvall to remain at Spurs (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

De Zerbi is well-stocked in midfield and added that he would prefer a “21, 22” player squad over 25 or 26, suggesting there may yet be more departures.

At his pre-match press conference, he was asked about the future of Pape Matar Sarr.

“For Pape, he started pre-season late because he stayed in Senegal until first week in August, I think,” De Zerbi said. “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 guaranteed to recoup well over £100m in sales this summer, 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 loan to Juventus, among others. While he said Tottenham are not likely to look to replace Spence as a back-up right-back, owing to Gray’s ability to operate in that position, De Zerbi expressed his disappointment at losing Spence, who had a breakout summer with England at the World Cup.

“First of all, I’m really disappointed with Djed because I love him and we have a great relationship,” the Italian said. “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 could soon follow him. Still, De Zerbi says Spurs are not finished 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.”