How Roberto De Zerbi lured £52million star Paul van Hecke to Tottenham by telling him to ‘f*** off’

ROBERTO DE ZERBI told Jan Paul van Hecke to “F*** off” to convince him to join Tottenham. If that sounds an odd way to win over a target, or you are confused as to why new signings have snubbed bigger clubs for Spurs, spend a few minutes in his company and the clouds will part. Jan Paul Van Hecke has revealed how Roberto De Zerbi convinvced him to sign for Tottenham Credit: Tottenham Hotspur De Zerbi coaxed Van Hecke to Spurs from Brighton Credit: AFP To borrow a phrase from another managerial great, the Italian is not one of the bottle. A nightmare to manage for owners? Probably. A delight for players? Absolutely. Those who have worked with De Zerbi talk about him like some sort of demagog. Sign up for the Football newsletter Thank you! His fire, wit and undeniable emotional intelligence mean players are happy to look beyond bigger names or pay-cheques to work with him. Sandro Tonali was courted by a host of top Premier League clubs while Mateus Fernandes turned down Manchester United to work with De Zerbi at Tottenham, who have finished 17th two years in a row. Jan Paul van Hecke, who played under the Spurs boss at Brighton, had little choice. But De Zerbi’s pursuit of the Dutchman says everything about his character. The self-proclaimed ‘shark’ in the transfer market left it about an hour after Spurs secured survival to pin the defender, who had setup a goal against Tottenham weeks before. De Zerbi said: “After the Everton game, I sent the message, ‘F* off, you wanted to push down Tottenham for Brighton when you made the assist to Giorginio Rutter. Now you have to come to me, yes or yes, you have no choice!’ Most read in Sport BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK “After the game, right in my dressing room, my office in Tottenham stadium, I sent a message to my daughter, and then JP. “I am excited when we close the deal, yes, but not for the player. We can play with JP, without JP, with Tonali, without Tonali, but it’s a different relationship, it’s a different atmosphere. “If the coach calls the player, you can build a special connection at the beginning with the player, because the player knows you are the key for this transfer, and maybe this player feels to have to give you back something more than if Johan Lange call the player. “You can create the special connection. With Mateus Fernandes, I spoke with the parents, with mum, with the father.” De Zerbi, who excitedly beats the table, where his phone and cigarettes sit, throughout this hour-long tour de force, thumps his chest when he explains where the desire to be so close with his players comes from. He added: “It’s in here. Because me as a player, as a student at school. When I felt the relationship with the teacher, with the coach, I was able to give my best. “If I didn’t feel the connection, if I didn’t feel he appreciated me, the teacher, or a coach, I close myself, we start a war. “It’s good, especially for the new generation. The young players, no? If they feel the coach loves me, the coach appreciates me, as a player, as a guy, they are in the right condition, in the better condition, to show who they are.” Top football travel deals An inability to show who they are, or how good they are, has been a chronic problem at Tottenham in the past two years. As always, there was a characteristically De Zerbi answer to this problem. His first game of seven to save Spurs was a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland. Walking into the away changing room at the Stadium of Light, he was staggered by what he found. De Zerbi said: “I saw the players after Sunderland in the dressing room, I didn’t tell you in the press conference, but it was like this: all people cry, lying down on the floor in the dressing room. “I said, ‘Did we pass away?’ I tried to transfer positivity and to observe the situation from another perspective.” After gathering all the staff at Spurs’ Hotspur Way training ground and telling them to go home if they could not put on their best smile, there was a typically De Zerbi solution to lifting spirits within the squad – a night on the lash. He added: “One big dinner in Bacchanalia in Mayfair, with alcohol. “Alcohol is a good medicine. If you enjoy normally and seriously, not as stupid people. I believe in staying together.” Best sport travel offers HERE are our top picks of the best sport travel trips this summer. We have teamed up with some of the UK’s finest travel firms to come up with these offers. 🏎️ SEE the Italian Grand Prix with tickets, flights and 5 nights in a hotel for just £789pp. – – MORE DETAILS HERE 🏇 TREAT yourself to a trip to York Ebor with £20 off hospitality – – MORE DETAILS HERE 🎯 WATCH the world’s finest darts players go head to head at Butlin’s Minehead at the PDC Championship Finals — MORE DETAILS HERE * If you click on a link we will earn affiliate revenue. Watch the latest SunSport video series “Then, I transferred every day my opinion about them. They considered themselves in that moment worse than the people thought.” De Zerbi hopes the players will now start organising their own nights out, and knows he is placing a lot of trust in them. But this is a man who does not set rules. He is firm when needed, but wants his players to feel they can be themselves – so long as they give him everything while working. He added: “[I ask for their] Testa, their head, and cervello, their brain, that’s it. All day. “Football is based on every single day. Football is not like the light, you switch on one and then you switch off. “There are the right moment to enjoy, for example, restaurants, they have to do what they want without rules. “I don’t love rules. I read a book where it was written that creative people don’t follow any rules. I would like creative players. I don’t want to set any rules. Just a couple, two or three at most. In terms of players of being together. “I am not a policeman, not with my children. Freedom, totally freedom. One is one. You are like me, or like kit man, the same. “But every day we have to push, every day we have to deserve to stay here or to play football or to earn the money we earn. It’s not normal. We have to respect the luck we have had in our life.” Anyone working at the top level in football has had some level of fortune, but while De Zerbi considers himself lucky to be at Tottenham – they can feel the same about having him. Comment now