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Roberto De Zerbi’s hire at Spurs is a huge gamble.

Roberto De Zerbi’s appointment at Tottenham Hotspur has been framed as a stable, long-term appointment. But the truth is, he appears anything but.

What he actually represents, is the club Spurs want to be. He is a project coach, who builds teams in his image, blending high intensity, incredible work rate and attacking football. There is a reason he is one of the most sought after men in Europe.

But there is a rather big problem for the club to solve before they can truly let De Zerbi shape them into what he wants them to be. Relegation is no longer just an unthinkable possibility, it now feels likely that, if nothing changes, one of the Premier League’s ‘big six’ will be playing in the Championship next season.

There will be debates over whether they are the biggest club to ever drop, but there are enough examples to prove nobody is ever ‘too’ big to go down.

The truth is, Spurs are well past a diagnosis for what they need. Igor Tudor was the man they brought in to arrest their slide in the second half of the season, the sort of job he has succeeded with on the continent. But a 3-0 home defeat to fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest prior to the international break brought his reign to an end after just seven games in charge. That was the game which made everything feel so real.

Despite talk of a move for a club legend in order to get the fans onside – Harry Redknapp, Tim Sherwood and Robbie Keane were all linked – and a Premier League ‘relegation specialist like Sean Dyche, nothing will automatically make things better from this point. Spurs have a squad which should be challenging for Europe as the reigning Europa League winners, but talent has never been in question. Motivation and, perhaps most pertinently, confidence, are their problem.

If Spurs were going to get themselves out of this mess, they’d have done it weeks ago. As it is, their realisation of how much trouble they face has been a slow burner. It may be too late.

In some ways, they deserve credit for going for the man they see as their long-term future is a short-term fix isn’t going to do the trick anyway. But the problem they have is De Zerbi doesn’t shape up as the sort of coach to make an instant impact. At Brighton, where he truly introduced himself to English football, his captain Lewis Dunk called the first few weeks “baffling”. The first few weeks are all that matters now, he doesn’t have time not to make an impact.

There have been lots of reports that De Zerbi wanted to wait until the summer to take the job knowing Spurs were still in the top flight. Suddenly, he has taken the job without a break clause and is said to be committed even in the Championship. They better hope they can afford to keep him if the worst happens, but that is quite the turnaround.

He is also known to be a volatile character who falls out with people. Spurs have previously been down a similar route with Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, neither of whom made a big impact.

The elephant in the room is the fans’ response to his arrival. Spurs need everyone onside, something that arguably hasn’t been the case since Mauricio Pochettino left in 2019, but there has been a heavy backlash because of De Zerbi’s public backing of Mason Greenwood, who was arrested on suspicion of rape in 2022, with the charges later dropped. The pair worked together at Marseille until earlier this season.

De Zerbi apologised on Thursday.

“I have never wanted to downplay the issue of violence against women, or violence against anyone more broadly.

“I’ve consistently fought and taken a stand to be on the side of those who are most at risk,” he said.

“Those of you who know me well, will know that I’m not the kind of person who makes compromises to win more games or win an extra title.

“I’m sorry if I offended anyone’s feelings with this subject matter. I have a daughter and I’m very sensitive to these things and I always have been.

“I hope that over time people will get to know me better and understand that at that moment, I didn’t mean to take a stance.”

There is little doubting De Zerbi’s quality as a coach. If he can get Spurs over the line to safety, he can begin to think of a bright future. But it remains a huge gamble at a time when the club can ill afford another misstep.