Tottenham don't need the Lucas Bergvall headache any longer, and they certainly shouldn't want it. Spurs are not short of problems, still without a Premier League win this season, and Roberto De Zerbi is already coming under pressure.

De Zerbi was given more than £300million worth of new players during the summer transfer window, which is more than any Tottenham manager in history has been given. That was always going to add pressure, and while an adaptation period of sorts was expected, six league games without a win to start the season was not.expected.

There are injury problems aplenty, but there is nothing new about that. It feels like the last three Spurs seasons have been the same on the injury front.

What Spurs don't need is additional problems like Bergvall, who can't seem to find a way to fit in. The Sweden international is a talented player, but he doesn't want to play in his best position, and that isn't helping anyone, least of all himself.

Bergvall is clearly a number 10 who can also play wide, much like James Maddison, but he doesn't want to play there. He wants to play in the number six role, and Roberto De Zerbi himself has admitted frustration over that.

He said in the summer: "I’m always being very clear with him and with you. I would like that he stays with us. I think he’s potentially a top, top, top player. But then I don’t want to convince anyone to stay. Tottenham is already, without me, a top club and we are not to convince anyone to stay. He can find the space if he stays with us.

“The competition within the players will be very strong because we are Tottenham and we have to build a strong squad. Not just 11 players. Especially considering a lot of injuries we suffered in the last two, three seasons. Football is going in a clear direction – to compete for the highest places in the table, you have to manage 22, 23, 24 players. I don’t want 24, but 21, 22, of a high level, for sure.

"It’s very clear, his idea. He wants space. He wants to play as a double pivot as a position. I can’t give, for any player in the world, the place in the first XI guaranteed.

"Especially for me. I want to be honest with the players. I want to be clear. I don’t want to make the first mistake. In terms of position, I can’t give guarantee. It’s right when he wants to play as a central midfielder. But to play as a central midfielder, sometimes it is to attack, sometimes to keep the holder, to move the ball faster.

“He has to improve. He’s a 2006 (born player). I would like that he stays. But if he doesn’t want, then what can I do? Nothing. He has to speak with (chief executive) Vinai (Venkatesham) or (sporting director) Johan Lange. To stay with us, we have to have the right spirit to stay. He’s a good guy. We will see in the next weeks.”

Since then, Bergvall has only started two league games for Spurs, and there is already talk of him leaving during the January transfer window. In fact, TuttoJuve have reported that Bergvall has been offered to Juventus by his intermediaries, but it's added that the Italian club have to convince Tottenham to sell in January.

Now, we don't know if those reports are true, but what we do know is that Bergvall is becoming more of an issue than he is worth. He is a player with real talent, and we have seen it at times, but he has arguably taken a step back in his development, ironically by taking a step back on the pitch itself.

While he could have been on an upward trajectory to become a star number 10, he is now deep in the weeds of learning how to become a number six, which does not come natural to him, at least not in the Premier League, where pivots must be physically strong as well as comfortable on the ball in all areas of the pitch.

Bergvall's Premier League stats this season

• Appearances: 4
• Pass success: 86.5%
• Aerials won per game: 0.5
• Dribbles per game: 0.3
• Key passes: 0
• Ball losses per game: 0.5

And to make matters worse, Bergvall is not doing that quietly. He is expecting to play and learn on the go in a team that shouldn't be accommodating players learning as they go. That's what loans are for.

Spurs are a team and club trying to become successful and trying to put two bottom half finishes behind them. They can't afford distractions like Bergvall, not anymore. If they are going to have young talents, they need to have players who are willing to be patient. Bergvall appears to have a sense of entitlement far beyond a 20-year-old player, and unless his attitude changes, Spurs need to cash in.