Eight signings? De Zerbi's transfer plans to rebuild Tottenham this summer

Never again. That was the promise made by Tottenham chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and non-executive chairman Peter Charrington after narrowly avoiding relegation from the Premier League.

There was a lot of criticism aimed at the Spurs board and sporting director Johan Lange after a disappointing January transfer window which left the team looking slim. It looked even more slim when the injuries started to pile up.

The promise from the Spurs hierarchy is that they are going to be stronger and they are going to back Roberto De Zerbi, who they have wanted to bring to the club for a long time. Even Daniel Levy, who left as former executive chairman a year ago, wanted to hire De Zerbi.

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Now they've finally got him, and after he pulled off the miracle of keeping Spurs up, they want to back him by signing the players he wants. Jan Paul van Hecke, who De Zerbi worked with at Brighton, has already been brought in for £52m.

Under the previous regime, it would not have been a surprise to see Spurs walk away from such a deal with Brighton - who are tough negotiators - or perhaps wait until late in the window to get the price down and sign him at a discount of £5m.

Van Hecke may have just a year left on his contract, but now Spurs know he will be reporting for training after a short break following the World Cup and have time to bed in and get to know his new team-mates in pre-season, which makes a whole world of difference.

Moving quickly to sign players like Van Hecke - and giving them a chance to settle in - could be the difference between finishing 8th and 5th next season. Spurs and De Zerbi want to be ambitious. Here, Sky Sports News' Michael Bridge tells you exactly how:

There is no such thing anymore at top clubs as having one person making all the decisions when it comes to recruitment, but De Zerbi is the most hands-on head coach for a while.

The Italian's pull has been a factor in Spurs' window so far. Van Hecke sees De Zerbi as a father figure and he chose to join Spurs. Sky Sports News was told that Van Hecke only wanted Spurs - that is the result of De Zerbi's presence.

Andy Robertson and Marcos Senesi agreed to join Spurs months ago, dependent on them staying up - and that was before it was clear that things would pick up under De Zerbi. Both of those players come with great qualities, and they wanted Spurs.

Some Liverpool fans would have liked Robertson to stay at Anfield another year, while Senesi just won Players' Player of the Year at Bournemouth, who are about to embark on their first season in Europe. He is swapping that for no Europe at Spurs.

De Zerbi will have the final say and Spurs are prepared to back him with the players he wants. Van Hecke was one and they are hoping to sign some more high-profile players that suit De Zerbi, such as Sandro Tonali.

Something else to note amid Spurs' strong interest in the player: Tonali is from the same region in Italy as the Spurs boss, Brescia, and the locals in that area consider each other family; everyone knows each other.

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It could be up to seven or eight signings for Spurs this summer. Midfield is a key area and that is why they are keen on Tonali.

De Zerbi wants to redo the whole midfield and add some forwards and potentially a goalkeeper.

The defensive signings should cover Spurs now. They have done their business there early and you can see with Van Hecke and Senesi that they are trying to improve the technical quality of the squad. That is a big priority for the summer.

Do not rule anything out right now. The move for Tonali is very ambitious. But that is exactly what Spurs' summer window plans are described as. They are ambitious and they are going to go for it.

Players like Tonali and Mateus Fernandes will be attracting interest from the top clubs. That will bring up memories for Spurs fans of the failures of last summer with Eberechi Eze and Morgan Gibbs-White. They were high-profile transfers for all the wrong reasons.

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So, for the board and the hierarchy at the club, one of those high-profile transfers going their way this summer would be a huge boost. Man City are considering rivalling Spurs for Tonali, so if the north London club can get that deal over the line, it would be a signal of intent.