Spurs raid City twice, then eye Gakpo

Savinho: done, fees debated

The Savinho deal is agreed. Sky Sports and ESPN report the fee as a flat £85m, while BBC Sport has it structured as £75m plus £10m in add-ons, same headline number, different architecture. Either way, the Brazilian winger is heading to north London, and City are cashing in on a player they signed from Troyes, via Girona, just two summers ago, per reports.

Savinho spent last season as one of the more electric wide options in the Premier League: direct, quick, capable of making something from nothing on the left. For De Zerbi, who built his reputation on fluid, press-resistant attacking football at Brighton and beyond, that profile fits almost too neatly.

Marmoush: personal terms agreed, club deal still open

The second piece of the City raid is closer than it looks but not yet done. According to Fabrizio Romano via GiveMeSport, Omar Marmoush has agreed personal terms to join Spurs. Club-to-club negotiations are progressing, but no agreement between Tottenham and City has been confirmed as of 21 August. Until that changes, the deal can still move in any direction.

Marmoush arrived at City from Eintracht Frankfurt in January and showed enough in the second half of last season to attract serious interest. He offers something different to Savinho: a centre-forward who can press, combine and finish, rather than a wide creator. If De Zerbi gets both, he has options across the front line that Spurs have not had in years.

And then there is Gakpo

Football365 reports that Tottenham have made a bid for Liverpool's Cody Gakpo that has not been rejected. That is a long way from a deal. Liverpool have not closed the door, but they have not opened it either. Gakpo has been a reliable contributor at Anfield without ever quite nailing down a fixed role, and Spurs pursuing him while simultaneously closing in on two City forwards suggests De Zerbi has been handed a brief that no Spurs manager has had in years: spend until the gap closes.

What this window actually means

If Savinho, Marmoush and Gakpo all arrive, Tottenham's summer outlay would push past £370m, per Football365. That figure sits alongside the biggest single-window spends the Premier League has ever seen. The gap between Spurs and the top four has been a structural fact of English football for most of the past decade. De Zerbi has been given the resources to make it a question instead.