De Zerbi pushing Spurs hierarchy to sign £40m winger

After a season of despair, depression and pain for Tottenham Hotspur, this summer proves to be a great one. For the hierarchy, it would seem the penny has finally dropped.

Spurs are a historic club, a club steeped in history. They should not be 17th in the Premier League, far from it. It’s time for them to start behaving like the illustrious side they are.

Well, it would seem they are doing just that. After signing Marcos Senesi, Jan Paul van Hecke and Andy Robertson, the Lilywhites have turned their attention towards two potential club-record deals.

Sandro Tonali of Newcastle is the leading target but valued upwards of £100m, this is not going to be easy by any stretch of the imagination. West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes is also on their radar but they face intense competition from Manchester United.

A winger may also be on the agenda, and there’s a few lined up already.

Big money winger could sign for Spurs after Tonali

Bolstering the centre of the pitch clearly looks like a priority for Tottenham this summer but they cannot afford to neglect the forward positions, particularly after the volume of injuries they experienced in 2025/26.

The two players they are most keen on are Savinho at Manchester City and Cody Gakpo at Liverpool. Spurs tried to sign the former last summer but he ultimately ended up remaining at the Etihad despite a series of bids.

A year on, he looks more likely to leave having suffered from a lack of game time after the arrivals of Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo. Subsequently, the north Londoners have entered talks in a bid to get a deal done.

For Gakpo, it’s a different sorty of story. He’s still a regular for Liverpool but there is a general feeling that he could seek a way out of Anfield. Tottenham are at the table for that one as well and are even thought to have already offered him a five year contract to move to the capital. Given his importance to Liverpool, however, this one may not be easy.

An easier move may well occur in the form of Marcus Rashford. According to The i paper, Spurs have an interest in the Manchester United man and that’s primarily being led by Roberto De Zerbi.

The report notes that the Italian is a huge fan and will push the club’s hierarchy to agree a deal for the wide player.

Rashford was expected to sign for Barcelona on a permanent basis this summer but they rejected the invitiation to sign him for £26m, signing Anthony Gordon for big-money instead.

He will still leave Old Trafford behind this summer and could do so for a £40m fee.

How Rashford compares to Cody Gakpo

This summer, there is a clear directive from De Zerbi to sign Premier League-proven players. He has already signed three players with vast experience of the English top-flight.

In Gakpo, he’d be adding a fourth. It would be a fine signing too. While the Netherlands star only scored nine goals last term, in 2024/25, Liverpool’s title-winning campaign, he netted as many as 18 goals in all competitions. He’s real solid goalscorer and he offers a unique blend of powerful running and ball striking.

In that regard, Rashford is cut from a similar cloth but he is undoubtedly the more consistent of the two players. Indeed, at Barca last term, he rejuvenated his career after a period in the wilderness under Ruben Amorim.

In 2024/25, it took a loan spell at Aston Villa in the second half of the season to get him back up to speed before he enjoyed a thrilling time in Spain, not just winning LaLiga but contributing very effectively to that glory.

In the famous red and blue stripes, the 28-year-old scored 14 goals and supplied 11 assists for his teammates. The fact is that Rashford has been an elite forward for a long time now and he just needed to find his rhythm again.

There is a sense that at Barca, he has rediscovered himself and he has proven precisely why Cristiano Ronaldo thinks he is “one of the best wingers in the world.” He has shown as much during the early days of the World Cup too, scoring off the bench in England’s 4-2 win over Croatia.

So, analysing the data, how does he compare to Gakpo?

Well, in the metrics most important for a winger in today’s game, it is a resounding victory for Rashford who just seems to be layered with plenty of different qualities that could change the game for Spurs.

He’s not just been a more prolific goalscorer than Gakpo, but he’s far more dangerous off the flanks, registering over two more progressive actions per game and over 1.5 more progressive carries per 90.

The England international is a devastasting winger on his day and you only need to look back at his exploits in the Premier League to understand that.

This is a player who once scored 30 goals in one season for United, a player with 426 top-flight appearances in England under his belt. Available for a cut-price this summer, you won’t find many better forward players on the market at his price. Spurs should be all over this deal.