Roberto De Zerbi is lining up a Brighton raid to drive Tottenham Hotspur’s rebuild, with Jan Paul van Hecke among the names now being pushed to the top of the club’s shopping list. Carlos Baleba and Bart Verbruggen are also under serious consideration as Spurs begin work on a squad reset after securing Premier League safety.
The move is being shaped around players De Zerbi knows well from his time at Brighton, and Van Hecke stands out because Tottenham want centre-back options who can help them change quickly at the back. They are also looking at Bournemouth’s Marcos Senesi, Liverpool’s Andy Robertson and Manchester City’s James Trafford, while even weighing John Stones as a leadership addition. De Zerbi is also intent on bringing in a new goalkeeper despite Antonin Kinsky’s recent heroics, which puts Verbruggen firmly in frame because he knows exactly how De Zerbi plays.
The timing matters because Tottenham are no longer trying to patch things up for survival; they are planning the next stage of a rebuild after April’s “Hail Mary” appointment that was meant to keep them in the Premier League. That makes this a search for players who can fit quickly, not a long-term fishing expedition. Van Hecke fits that brief after finishing the season as the Bundesliga’s highest-scoring defender in Hamburg on six goals, adding a 69.1 per cent duel success rate and a place in the Bundesliga Team of the Season to make his case.
Brighton, though, are unlikely to make it simple. They want more than £100m for Baleba, and Manchester United are also in the race, which could force Tottenham to choose where to spend their rebuilding budget first. That makes the next step less about the list of targets and more about whether Spurs decide Van Hecke, Verbruggen or Baleba is the player worth pushing hardest for.
There is also a wider contract picture at Tottenham that may shape how aggressive they can be. Luka Vuskovic is expected to sign a new deal and then go back on loan to Hamburg, where he finished the season as the Bundesliga’s highest-scoring defender with six goals, while Micky van de Ven wants to stay. De Zerbi can dream about a Brighton reunion, but the real test is whether Spurs turn that into one signing, or several, before rivals and price tags close the door.
