Were he to agree to a reported five-year deal on offer, his first task - aside from injecting a bit of confidence back into an underachieving squad - is to ensure that the Lilywhites are not relegated to the Championship.
De Zerbi could start Spurs reign in the bottom three
There are seven games left of the 2025/26 Premier League season, and Spurs will play (in order) Sunderland, De Zerbi's old team Brighton and Hove Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aston Villa, Leeds United, Chelsea and Everton.
Before the first of those fixtures against the Black Cats, the North Londoners could find themselves in the bottom three, as West Ham, who are currently third from bottom, play Wolves earlier than the Spurs game. Should the East Londoners win that game, they would leapfrog the Lilywhites, at least temporarily.
The potential choice of the 46-year-old Italian is an interesting one for a few reasons, not least because of the entertainment value that his sides bring to the table.
Guardiola was impressed
Even Pep Guardiola gave De Zerbi his blessing back in 2023 when he said: "There is no team playing the way they (Brighton) play - it's unique. I had the feeling when he arrived, the impact he would have in the Premier League would be great - I didn't expect him to do it in this short space of time.
"He creates 20 or 25 chances per game, better by far than most opponents. He monopolises the ball in a way it hasn't been for a long time. They deserve completely the success they have."
High praise indeed, though it shouldn't be forgotten that Ange Postecoglou's way of working was not too dissimilar, and it's arguable that without the plethora of injuries that befell the Australian in his second season, he'd still be at the helm.
Time to turn around the 'Spursy' mindset
One area that De Zerbi may need to address is with regard to his preferred back three, as that was shown to clearly not work in any way, shape or form under Igor Tudor.
Perhaps the Croatian's less-than-agreeable personality had much to do with that, though it is worth harking back to Antonio Conte's infamous rant about Tottenham players not wanting to play under stress, and essentially wanting an easy life.
Turning around that 'Spursy' mindset, which would appear to infiltrate all parts of the club, and is something that Postecoglou has alluded to in recent podcast appearances, has to be one of the bigger challenges that De Zerbi will find upon taking up the post.
Not to mention that he'll still be without James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Wilson Odobert and Yves Bissouma, and won't have Mo Kudus, Ben Davies, Guglielmo Vicario, Mathys Tel and Rodrigo Bentancur back until at least mid-April.
All-out attack in N17?
With that in mind, just what can the locals expect if the former Marseille manager is the next chosen one to sit in the dugout in N17?
Can he really play in a disciplined manner to grind out the necessary wins, or is the gung-ho, all-out attacking style in his DNA?
Throughout his managerial career, De Zerbi has employed a possession-based game, which focuses heavily on building from the back.
As a starting point, each and every Spurs defender needs to be more comfortable on the ball than they've shown recently, particularly in the Atletico Madrid game in the Spanish capital.
It's possible that the back three will be dispensed with in the early stages of his reign in North London.
During his time at Shakhtar Donetsk, he utilised a 4-2-3-1 formation and an occasional 4-3-3, which is likely to serve him better at this particular point in time.
The former would allow for a double pivot to protect the back four, and help to create the build-up he prefers from back-to-front, where he can overload certain areas of the pitch to ensure possession is retained.
Porro and Spence are vital to a possession-based game
Responsibility would quickly fall upon the shoulders of Pedro Porro and Djed Spence in the full-back positions, as they remain key to widening the pitch and drawing the opposition onto them.
The centre-back pairing of Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero can play a slightly higher line than normal, as another one of De Zerbi's preferences is for the goalkeeper to play out with his feet as much as possible and often act as a 'sweeper keeper.'
Bringing the opposition into the 'trap' that's then set requires all Tottenham players to be on the same page, because the wingers then have to be alert enough to be as high and wide up the pitch as possible, but not too far so as to lose possession.
Simplifying everyone's role, too, means it should then also follow that the strikers move as one at a given point in a move, and the flow of the ball from back to front is swift and natural, not to mention exciting.
Keeping the ball on the floor and exercising a high press are prerequisites for 'De Zerbi ball' to work, both of which require absolute confidence and buy-in from the first-team squad.
Should the appointment be announced soon, Spurs fans will quickly find out if it really is the managers that have been the problem all along...
