Tottenham have completed the signing of Andy Robertson from Liverpool on a free transfer as Roberto De Zerbi seeks to rebuild his squad following the trauma of their brush with relegation from the Premier League.
De Zerbi said after his team had stayed up on the final day of the season with a home win over Everton that he had “10, 11, 12 players good enough to stay” and “we have now to change too many players”. Robertson has become the first addition as the Italian seeks to address the leadership vacuum in the dressing room that undermined the previous campaign.
Spurs tried and failed to sign Robertson in January but they have got the deal done now and without having to pay a fee, with the left-back’s contract at Liverpool expiring after nine hugely successful seasons with the club. The 32-year-old is the captain of Scotland and is preparing for the World Cup with them.
“Andy is someone I’ve admired for a number of years and he will bring outstanding technical qualities, experience, leadership and mentality to our team,” De Zerbi said. “He is a proven winner at the highest level over a long period and is someone who can be a big player for us, both on and off the pitch.”
De Zerbi has spoken warmly about Cristian Romero, the Spurs captain, who missed the closing weeks of the season with a knee injury. But the Argentinian is not expected to remain at the club and none of Spurs’ players believe he will be with them once the summer transfer window has closed.
Micky van de Ven, Romero’s central-defensive partner, has numerous suitors, Liverpool among them, and De Zerbi is looking at two new players in the position: Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke of Brighton. The former is out of contract and Spurs have a deal in place for him while De Zerbi worked with the latter when he was the Brighton manager.
Tottenham are also chasing Savinho from Manchester City while they have an interest in Fulham’s Harry Wilson. João Palhinha, who has been on loan at Spurs from Bayern Munich, wants to stay.
Meanwhile, an American investment group led by the tech entrepreneur and former DJ Brooklyn Earick has claimed to have agreed a deal to buy the former chair Daniel Levy’s 24.99% stake in Spurs.
Levy, who still owns 29.88% of Tottenham’s parent company, Enic Sports and Development Holdings Limited, despite being forced off the board last September, has been in talks with numerous parties over selling his shares for some time and Eight Sports Capital released a statement on Friday declaring it has agreed to purchase them. Eight Sports Capital is owned by Triller, an American entertainment company that specialises in combat sports including bare-knuckle fighting, and is led by Earick, whose hostile takeover attempt was unequivocally rejected by Tottenham’s owners last year.
“We are delighted to have signed this agreement to acquire a significant stake in Enic,” a spokesperson for Eight Sports Capital said. “We look forward to working with the club’s shareholders, management, staff, players and fans to support Tottenham Hotspur’s continued growth and success.”
Sources close to Levy declined to confirm the sale had been agreed, while representatives of the Lewis family who own Tottenham through Enic claimed to be in the dark. Spurs also declined to comment.
An Enic spokesperson said: “We can confirm that neither Enic nor THFC are aware of any sale by Daniel Levy’s family trust of its minority stake in Enic, THFC’s parent company. The THFC Board and executive team remain fully focused on delivering the commitments we set out to fans at the end of the season.”
Any sale to Eight Sports Capital could have significant ramifications for the club and set up a potential power battle for ultimate control of it.
