Lucas Bergvall Wants Out of Tottenham, but Roberto De Zerbi Refuses to Push Him

Lucas Bergvall wants to leave Tottenham this summer, and Roberto De Zerbi is not going to stand in his way. That was the message from the Spurs head coach after his side beat Sydney FC on penalties in a pre-season friendly, with the 20 year old midfielder handed his first minutes of the tour before being replaced at half time by the club’s record signing.

“I would like that he stays with us,” De Zerbi said after the match. “I think he’s a potential top, top, top player, but in the end I don’t want to convince anyone to stay.”

It is a rare moment of public honesty from a head coach about a player’s future, and it confirms what Sky Sports News has been reporting for weeks: that Bergvall wants a way out of north London, even as Tottenham have already turned down approaches from both Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest for the Swede.

A Half Time Substitution With a Message

Bergvall started Wednesday’s game in Sydney, his first appearance of pre-season, before being withdrawn at the break for Sandro Tonali, the £100m club record signing from Newcastle. The symbolism was hard to miss. De Zerbi rested several senior players for the trip, including new arrival Mateus Fernandes, but chose to give Bergvall a runout regardless of his uncertain future, only to replace him with the very player whose arrival has pushed him further down the midfield pecking order.

Tottenham won the game 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw over 90 minutes, with Mathys Tel scoring a stunning 25 yard free kick before Sydney FC levelled through Takahiro Sekine in the second half. Goalkeeper Martin Dubravka saved a spot kick in the shoot-out to hand Dane Scarlett the winning penalty. It was Tottenham’s third pre-season victory, following wins over MK Dons and Auckland FC earlier in the tour.

Two Rejected Approaches

Bergvall’s situation has been building for some time. Both Newcastle and Nottingham Forest have had approaches for the midfielder turned down by Tottenham this summer, a stance that suggests the club still values him, regardless of whether he sees his own future at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. De Zerbi’s comments after the Sydney FC game were the first time the head coach has spoken publicly and directly about the player’s wish to leave.

His description of Bergvall as “a potential top, top, top player” leaves little doubt about how highly the Italian rates him as a talent. But his refusal to lobby for a change of heart is just as telling. De Zerbi has built a reputation, first at Sassuolo, then at Brighton, for developing young midfielders into players good enough to attract this level of interest in the first place. Losing one before that development is complete would represent a setback, but the head coach’s comments suggest he has already made peace with the possibility.

Bergvall’s rise has been rapid. He moved through Sweden’s youth ranks at under 15, under 17, under 19 and under 21 level, consistently playing above his own age group, before making his senior debut for his country as a 17 year old substitute against Estonia in January 2024. He went on to be named in Sweden’s squad for this summer’s World Cup, coming off the bench in their opening match to become the youngest player in his country’s history to feature at the tournament.

Why Tottenham Are Rebuilding This Summer

The context behind Bergvall’s situation is worth setting out. De Zerbi was appointed as Tottenham’s third head coach of the season in late March, arriving on a five year contract with the club sitting just a point above the relegation zone. His first match in charge did not come until an away trip to Sunderland on 12 April, and Spurs went on to avoid what would have been their first relegation from the top flight in almost half a century.

That survival has been followed by one of the most significant squad rebuilds in the club’s recent history. Tonali’s arrival from Newcastle for a club record fee was the headline addition, alongside Jan Paul van Hecke and Mateus Fernandes, whose £85m transfer from West Ham broke Tottenham’s transfer record only for Tonali’s arrival to break it again soon after. Against that spending, a midfield containing Bergvall, Tonali, Archie Gray and the returning Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Matar Sarr, both given extended leave after their countries’ World Cup campaigns, leaves De Zerbi with a genuine surplus of options in that area of the pitch.

It is that surplus, as much as any breakdown in relationship, that appears to be driving Bergvall’s desire to find regular football elsewhere. He made 23 Premier League appearances last season, starting 11 of them and scoring once, but the arrival of a club record central midfielder this summer has changed his prospects of regular football entirely.

The midfield is not the only area De Zerbi has reshaped. Defender Marcos Senesi arrived on a free transfer from Bournemouth, goalkeeper Martin Dubravka was brought in to provide senior back up, and Robertson’s move from Liverpool gives the head coach an experienced option at left back to go alongside a squad still built largely around players developed at academy level. Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, left out of the touring party in Australia through injury, has also been the subject of transfer interest this summer, adding to the sense of a squad being remodelled from the back as much as through the middle.

Encouraging Signs Elsewhere in Sydney

If Bergvall’s future dominated the post-match discussion, there was better news elsewhere for De Zerbi. Andy Robertson made his first Tottenham appearance as a second half substitute, wearing the captain’s armband and setting up two chances in a 25 minute cameo that also included a well saved effort and a converted penalty.

Robertson signed for Tottenham on a free transfer on 1 July after his Liverpool contract expired, having lost his place as first choice left back to Milos Kerkez in his final season at Anfield. At 32, his arrival on a two year deal gives De Zerbi a left back with more top level experience than almost anyone else in the squad, and the captain’s armband handed to him in Sydney suggests the head coach already sees him as a dressing room leader in this transitional summer.

Tel’s free kick, meanwhile, appeared to be a pointed response to reports linking Tottenham with a move for Manchester City’s Savinho. The Frenchman only completed a permanent £30m transfer from Bayern Munich this summer, and a stand out 45 minute display before he was substituted served as a reminder to his own head coach of what he offers on the left of Tottenham’s attack.

Archie Gray captained the side for the second pre-season match running, ahead of more experienced options such as Conor Gallagher, Richarlison and Ben Davies, another quiet vote of confidence from De Zerbi in a 20 year old he has already trusted with added responsibility. Gray, who joined Tottenham from Leeds United in July 2024, made 46 appearances in his debut season at the club and won the UEFA Europa League, and his versatility across midfield and defensive positions has made him one of the more adaptable options available to De Zerbi in a busy summer of change. Where the goals will come from remains a live question. Gallagher missed three clear first half chances and substitute Min-Hyeok Yang spurned two more after coming on, while Richarlison was anonymous across his 60 minutes on the pitch. Dominic Solanke, James Maddison, Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons and Dejan Kulusevski all remain unavailable through injury, along with goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

What Comes Next

Tottenham’s pre-season tour continues on 1 August against Chelsea, still in Sydney, before a behind closed doors fixture against Getafe on 8 August and a double header with Hoffenheim in the middle of the month. Bergvall’s situation is unlikely to be resolved before the Premier League season begins, and with two clubs already turned away this summer, any move that does happen will need to meet a valuation Tottenham are prepared to accept rather than simply satisfy the player’s wish to leave.

For now, De Zerbi’s approach is unambiguous. He wants to keep his most promising young midfielder, he has said so publicly, and he is not going to change that stance by pretending Bergvall’s wishes do not exist. Whether that honesty keeps the Swede at the club beyond the end of the transfer window is a different question entirely, one that neither Tottenham nor Bergvall appear close to answering.

What is clear is that Bergvall’s next few weeks will say a great deal about how De Zerbi intends to run his squad going forward. Rejecting two approaches while publicly refusing to talk a player into staying is an unusual combination, but it fits a head coach who inherited a relegation fight in March and has spent the months that followed rebuilding almost every department of his squad. Bergvall, for all his talent, now has to decide whether his path back into that team runs through Tottenham or somewhere else entirely.