Tottenham Hotspur are bracing for a defining summer, and former Spurs midfielder Steffen Freund has wasted no time delivering a candid reality check to Roberto De Zerbi.
The Italian manager has won early admirers at the club after helping Spurs navigate what threatened to become a catastrophic relegation battle. James Maddison was among those to publicly credit De Zerbi with rapidly restoring belief within the dressing room, and some observers have gone as far as suggesting Tottenham would have gone down without his steadying influence. But Freund is not interested in celebrating survival — not at a club of Spurs’ stature.
In his view, the real test is only now beginning.
Tottenham have finished 17th in back-to-back Premier League seasons, and while there have been encouraging flickers of form in recent weeks, Freund argues that deep-rooted inconsistency remains the defining problem. Even the hard-fought win over Everton came with caveats — Spurs still looked exposed and vulnerable during the second half, a familiar pattern that has plagued the club all season.
His message heading into the summer is unambiguous: tinkering around the edges will not be enough. Tottenham need wholesale change — not just in tactics, but in squad mentality, leadership culture, and structural identity. Freund even suggested that De Zerbi should be handed full control over incomings and outgoings if the club is genuinely serious about moving forward.
Looking further ahead, Freund made clear that the bar at Tottenham is set firmly in the top five and silverware territory — and that merely stabilising the club will not satisfy expectations for long. He also issued a sobering note of caution, pointing to the unforgiving nature of modern football management, where even winning trophies offers no guaranteed protection.
Which raises the central question hanging over White Hart Lane this summer: is Roberto De Zerbi truly being set up to succeed at Tottenham — or has he walked into a role where even genuine progress may never be quite enough
