Piero Ausilio to Tottenham could shape Spurs rebuild under Roberto De Zerbi
Tottenham have spent heavily, changed direction and still find themselves peering up from 17th in the Premier League. That is why the report from Gazzetta Italia feels significant. Piero Ausilio, Inter’s long-serving former sporting director, is said to be in talks with Spurs over taking up the same role from the January transfer window, and the suggestion is that an agreement is close.
It has the ring of a club searching for ballast. Ausilio had reportedly intended only a brief break after 28 years wrapped up in the demands of Inter. Instead, Tottenham’s call appears to have cut through quickly. In football, that usually tells its own story. Big clubs do not make this kind of move unless they feel a department needs authority, clarity and a firmer hand on the tiller.
Roberto De Zerbi link adds intrigue
The fit with Roberto De Zerbi is obvious. Tottenham’s head coach is an exacting ideologue, a manager who needs alignment around him if his ideas are to flourish. Ausilio has operated at elite level for years and would arrive with the weight of experience, and with a reputation built in one of Europe’s most pressurised environments.
The report notes, “he would work alongside Roberto De Zerbi”, which is the line that matters most here. Spurs are not merely looking for an administrator. They are looking for a football executive who can help turn lavish spending into coherent squad building.
Tottenham transfer strategy under scrutiny
Those numbers demand scrutiny. Sandro Tonali arrived for €108 million, becoming the most expensive Italian player in history. Mateus Fernandes cost €99 million, Savinho €88 million, Paul van Hecke €60 million and Adarabioyo €12 million. Add in the loans of Marmoush and Mudryk, plus free transfers including Senesi, Robertson and Dubravka, and Tottenham’s recent business reads like a club in a hurry.
There is talent there, certainly, and a familiar Italian thread too with Tonali and Destiny Udogie in the squad. But spending alone guarantees nothing. Four league matches without a win, with only one victory coming in the League Cup, has sharpened the sense that Spurs need structure as much as star power.
Our View
As a Spurs supporter, this feels like the kind of move that offers proper encouragement. Not because a sporting director is some magic answer, and not because one appointment suddenly wipes away the anxiety of a poor league position, but because it suggests the club understand the scale of the job.
Too often, Tottenham have looked like a side collecting good players without always building a fully connected team. If Ausilio comes in, you would hope that changes. You would hope signings start to fit a plan, that expensive arrivals are chosen for balance as well as brilliance, and that De Zerbi gets the sort of support serious coaches need.
There is also something reassuring about bringing in someone who has lived through pressure at a giant club. Spurs need calm judgement now. They need somebody who can separate panic from planning, somebody who can make January feel like a turning point rather than another shopping spree.
Tonali, Udogie, Kulusevski and Bentancur give this squad quality and personality. There is enough there to believe things can improve. What has been missing is certainty. If this report is right, then perhaps Tottenham are finally trying to build from the top down, with De Zerbi’s football and Ausilio’s experience pulling in the same direction. For supporters craving competence as much as excitement, that would be a welcome start.
Source: Gazzetta Italia
