"I spoke with the Mister and he was the key for this decision," Matheus Fernandes told Sky Sports about his £85m move to Tottenham. The midfielder said Roberto De Zerbi's energy and the personal contact he made with Fernandes and his family helped sway him, and he has already linked that choice to belief in the project.

De Zerbi's pull on the move

Fernandes was clear that money was not the whole story. "You can feel when you speak with him, the energy, the passion about football," he said, while also adding that De Zerbi spoke with his dad and mum and told his father, "we'll take care" of him.

He also said, "Look, I chose Tottenham because one of the biggest parts was you." That is a manager-driven signing in plain terms, even if the fee was huge and the expectation that follows is even bigger.

Patience after the slow start

The other side of the story is the start Tottenham have made. They had not won any of their first three Premier League games this season, and the more recent picture is still grim, with the club bottom of the table on 0 points after a run of D D L L W.

Fernandes is not hiding from that. "We just focus on us," he said. "If you believe in the club, if you believe in the manager, you know that you need to take some time to learn the timings, everything tactical, and when you arrive there, it's like ketchup. It starts spilling."

The point is not that results should be excused forever. It is that Fernandes is talking like a player who has bought into the coach before he has had time to settle the team himself. He has played four league matches, has a 6.7 Premier League rating so far, and has not yet registered a goal or an assist in the league.

Fernandes also said, "We want to win the games, we want to fight for the titles and, with this squad, it's normal that we want to fight for the titles." Everton was the latest reminder of how awkward the start has been, with the most recent Tottenham-Everton meeting finishing 0-0. The next league games will tell us whether De Zerbi's influence can turn that £85m backing into something more than faith.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →