Tottenham weigh De Zerbi sack after five winless Premier League games and fragility admission

Tottenham Hotspur are weighing up whether to dismiss head coach Roberto De Zerbi after failing to win any of their opening five Premier League fixtures, with Spanish outlet Fichajes reporting the club is already identifying potential successors.

De Zerbi was appointed in March to arrest a slide that had produced back-to-back 17th-place finishes, and was handed significant transfer funds over the summer to rebuild the squad. Yet Saturday’s defeat to Aston Villa has intensified boardroom concern, with the Italian’s own post-match comments doing little to ease the tension.

“It’s difficult to explain because, in my career, 14 years as a coach, I’ve never seen one team like us,” De Zerbi said after the final whistle. “So fragile, so inconsistent. You’re good, or you’re bad. You can’t be very good in the first 30, 40 minutes, and then concede like this in this way. It’s tough to accept for me.”

He pointed to a lack of leadership within the dressing room as a recurring issue. “Maybe the communication between the players [is the problem], maybe the leaders have to be stronger. We need leaders to drive and lead the team. With Newcastle it was the same, in Liverpool it was the same, with Everton it was the same: we have to find the solutions.”

Any dismissal would carry a steep financial cost. De Zerbi signed a contract running until 2031 that contains no break clause, meaning Spurs would face a settlement running into tens of millions of pounds to part ways early.

The timing would also invite uncomfortable comparisons with the club’s treatment of Thomas Frank, who was kept in post until February of this year despite winning just 13 of 38 matches across all competitions.

Tottenham’s next fixture is against Manchester United when Premier League action resumes after the international break in October — a game that could prove decisive for De Zerbi’s future in north London.