Roberto De Zerbi knows exactly what he's doing with Mykhailo Mudryk at Tottenham and it's not right

Roberto De Zerbi made the call to bring Mykhailo Mudryk to Tottenham Hotspur on deadline day.

There is no getting away from the shopping spree that the Lilywhites went on throughout the window.

It all came to an end with the Ukraine international coming in on loan from Chelsea.

That was arguably the most bizarre move of the summer after his very recent return from a doping ban.

That has stopped him from making a competitive appearance since November 2024.

Regardless, De Zerbi has opted to bring Mudryk to Tottenham in a move that proves where his priorities truly lie.

What do the numbers say about Mykhailo Mudryk?

There is little redeeming qualities to this signing as he hasn't featured in a Premier League fixture for just short of two years.

That isn't to say he was actually any good when he was featuring regularly for Chelsea.

In his last Premier League games before his ban, he put up zero goals, zero assists and a total of just 0.25 expected goals.

That isn't made better by his total of three completed dribbles and 34 per cent duel win rate.

His minutes were severely limited that year, so were things better in his only full campaign at Stamford Bridge? No, not really.

Mudryk scored five and assisted two, but did only complete 55 per cent of his attempted dribbles and once again struggled in the duel as he lost out 54 per cent of the time.

That doesn't seem like the sort of player Tottenham need right now and especially not with a £75million buy option.

There is one reason for this deal and it is De Zerbi's vanity.

Roberto De Zerbi has questions to answer over Mudryk signing at Tottenham

Every manager would like to believe that they can turn around the career of a failing player who was once destined for superstardom.

De Zerbi is looking to do exactly that with Mudryk.

The pair worked together before at Shakhtar Donetsk, as the Italian oversaw 19 games featuring the winger, as he scored two and assisted nine.

That isn't that impressive in itself, so why is it going to be any better in North London.

Given how bad Tottenham have been, it certainly isn't the time for the head coach to be testing whether he can get the best out of a failed attacker four years after their time together with Shakhtar.

It is a poor move for Spurs to make and certainly doesn't reflect well on De Zerbi who is just piling further pressure on himself for his own vanity.