Rafael van der Vaart slams Tottenham spending after nightmare start under De Zerbi

Rafael van der Vaart has launched a scathing assessment of Tottenham Hotspur, questioning how a club that invested so heavily during the summer can produce such poor football under Roberto De Zerbi.

Spurs spent significantly on players including Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Savio and Omar Marmoush, raising expectations that De Zerbi would have a squad capable of making substantial progress.

Instead, Tottenham have opened the league season with four consecutive matches without either a victory or a goal.

For Van der Vaart, who spent two years at Tottenham during his playing career, the performances simply do not match the investment.

Speaking on the Rondo podcast, Van der Vaart argued Tottenham's spending is also representative of the extraordinary inflation across the transfer market.

“They’ve certainly messed up the market a bit, so to speak,” he said.

“Players we don’t even know get sold there, and you’re already looking at a price tag of 40 or 50 million.”

The former Netherlands international believes Premier League spending has created an increasingly difficult environment for Dutch clubs such as Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord, who cannot operate at the same financial level.

Tottenham, however, have spent enough money for Van der Vaart to expect considerably more from the team.

The biggest concern is what De Zerbi's expensive squad has produced on the pitch.

Tottenham have gone four league matches without scoring, the first time in the club's history they have failed to find the net in each of their opening four league fixtures.

Their start is still not as poor as the disastrous 2008/09 campaign under Juande Ramos, when Tottenham collected only two points from eight matches before Harry Redknapp replaced the Spaniard.

Nevertheless, Van der Vaart has seen enough to deliver a brutal verdict on his former club.

“I can’t even bear to watch them anymore,” he said.

“I find Tottenham truly awful to watch.”

The 43-year-old was particularly frustrated by the contrast between Tottenham's substantial investment and the football being produced.

“When you spend that much money on those players… I find it truly incredible. Truly incredible.”

De Zerbi therefore finds himself facing questions not only about results but whether his tactical approach is getting enough from the squad assembled for him.

Tottenham's lack of goals is particularly damaging given the attacking talent available. After investing heavily during the summer, patience will inevitably become increasingly limited if performances do not improve.

Van der Vaart's criticism adds another prominent former Tottenham player to those questioning the direction of the team.

For De Zerbi, the quickest way to change that conversation is straightforward: Tottenham need to start scoring and winning.

Tottenham now need a response from both De Zerbi and his players, with the club's summer spending making their poor start increasingly difficult to justify.

If players such as Tonali, Fernandes, Savio and Marmoush begin delivering consistently, the criticism could quickly ease. But another run of ineffective attacking performances would inevitably increase scrutiny on De Zerbi and whether he is the right manager to extract enough from Tottenham's expensive squad.