Roberto De Zerbi continues to push Tottenham Hotspur towards the critical addition of a new backroom staff member who is being tipped to make a huge difference to the club’s transfer business from January onwards.

De Zerbi took some of the heat off his position after Spurs grabbed their first Premier League win of the season against Coventry City on Monday evening.

The 3-1 victory moved Tottenham up to 16th in the table ahead of another Monday night contest, when they head to bitter London rivals Chelsea, where they have just one win in their last 34 league visits to Stamford Bridge.

Having spent over £300million during the summer window, the north London club are expected to be active again in the winter window, although not to anything like that extent.

The addition of a new striker is uppermost in De Zerbi’s thoughts, with the club still trying to push Richarlison out the door and the Spurs boss regarding summer addition Omar Marmoush as more of a No.10 or left-sided forward.

Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham have been the men in charge of recruitment since Fabio Paratici decided to quit and head back to Italy for a similar role at Fiorentina.

And it’s being reported that De Zerbi wants former Inter Milan sporting director Piero Ausilio to join him at the club, with speculation that could actually happen having ramped up this week.

De Zerbi pushing for Ausilio link up

The Italian was at Inter in various capacities over more than 10 years but left the San Siro after differences between the two parties emerged over a contract renewal.

Ausilio had always signed one-year contracts with the club and was reportedly pushing for more money, but with no agreement reached, he is now free to take up a new role.

Rumours of talks between Tottenham and Ausilio have been rife and now a fresh report in Il Giornale – via Calciomercato – states that a move to north London is still possible for the 54-year-old, with Spurs chiefs ‘evaluating the idea’ and the ‘director’s future could indeed lie in England’.

More importantly, it’s De Zerbi is front and centre in trying to bring his fellow countryman to the capital, given that he has ‘very positive opinion about Ausilio’s skillset’.

He certainly made a big impact in Milan while working with  Beppe Marotta, helping to lay the foundations of a stable football club that regularly won trophies, including three Serie A titles over the last six years.

Ausilio is also known for his ability to identfity players who do not necassirly break the bank, which could be key to Tottenham bringing in a couple of January targets.

Indeed, a recent report claimed De Zerbi wants Ausilio to convince Real Madrid into loaning explosive forward Endrick to Spurs to improve his forward line.

The fact that De Zerbi needs moderation, after the club spent so much over the summer, would mean Ausilio working on a somewhat smaller budget, which he is perfectly adept at.