Roberto de Zerbi has made the message plain at Tottenham: he wants Djed Spence and Lucas Bergvall to stay, but he will not promise either a place in the first XI. "I would like you to stay if you want to stay. If you don't want to stay, if you want to leave, then you have to leave," he said. That is the tone around two players whose futures have become part of a bigger squad squeeze.
De Zerbi's message to Spence and Bergvall
De Zerbi was equally direct when discussing the wider selection picture. "I can't give, for any player in the world, the place in the first XI guaranteed," he said, after adding that Bergvall wants to play as part of a double pivot. The manager also framed the issue as a trade-off, saying, "Yes, help me to stay up, and then I help you to leave. If you don't help me to stay up, you stay underwater with me."
The context is clear enough. Tottenham spent a club record £237m this summer, and that level of outlay usually means more competition, not less. Spence started 23 of his 30 Premier League appearances last season, which is not the profile of a player frozen out. Bergvall, meanwhile, made 33 appearances across all competitions, scoring 1 goal and adding 3 assists, but only 17 of those were starts.
The rebuild has sharpened the competition
That is why the exit talk has kept circulating around Bergvall, even with interest from Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and Brighton in the background. The Sweden international has not forced the manager’s hand with his output alone, and his 6.49 season rating reflects a player who has had involvement without dominating games. Spence’s 6.78 rating is steadier, and he has already logged 434 minutes in the available season sample, so he is clearly still part of the picture.
De Zerbi’s point is not hard to follow. He wants a tighter squad, he wants more goals, and he does not sound interested in handing out comfort. "I don't love working with plan A, plan B, plan C. It is plan A, full stop, because all players are not the same. We have to increase the number of goals," he said. The message to both players is the same: stay if you want to fight for it, but nobody is being handed a starting place.
The only real unresolved issue is how far that leaves Bergvall and Spence willing to go with Tottenham's rebuild. For now, De Zerbi has drawn the line, and the next test comes in how they respond when the team sheet is named again.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →
