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Roberto De Zerbi is facing growing pressure at Tottenham Hotspur after a dreadful start to the new season. Despite the club spending heavily in the summer transfer window, Spurs have taken only one point from three matches and have still not scored a goal. Questions are now being raised over the extensive authority given to the manager in recruitment, with critics warning it could have serious repercussions for the club.

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Pundit attacks major spending spree

Tottenham have suffered a bleak opening four weeks of the campaign and are currently 18th in the table. After an enormous £314 million outlay, De Zerbi has not been able to produce instant results. Speaking on talkSPORT's Fiery Fridays podcast, Alex Crook strongly questioned the wisdom of allowing the Italian complete control over transfer business.

Crook referred to the circumstances around De Zerbi's appointment, saying: "This is a guy who when Tottenham first approached him to be their saviour last season, he turned the job down. He didn’t want to take over midway through the season. He wanted a clean break and to come in, in the summer."

Complete authority over transfer strategy

Crook argued that Tottenham have handed De Zerbi too much influence, pointing out that the club do not have a proper sporting director to provide balance in decision-making.

Crook said: "They chucked a ridiculous amount of money at him, a ridiculous bonus for keeping them in the Premier League but more importantly in Roberto De Zerbi’s eyes, they gave him overall control of recruitment. They don’t really have a director of football worthy of the name so not only is he the head coach, he’s also in control of the transfer policy at Spurs. All of these signings have been bought for excessive fees in my opinion at the whim of one man."

Costly signings and fears of a collapse

The summer transfer window included several huge investments that have not yet delivered on the pitch. Crook challenged the large fees paid for players such as Sandro Tonali, Matheus Fernandes and Savinho, claiming De Zerbi appears to be repeating mistakes from his previous spell at Brighton.

Voicing serious concern about what lies ahead, Crook warned: "I think this could end in disaster because what we know about De Zerbi is when things aren’t going his own way he’s very combustible. That’s why he never stays at a club for too long and even though he’s been given the keys to the kingdom at Spurs, the cracks are there and he’s not very good at signing players."

What next for Tottenham?

Tottenham are in desperate need of a positive result when Everton travel to north London on Saturday. De Zerbi must quickly work out how to integrate his expensive new signings and deliver a crucial win. If Spurs fail to win again and remain without a goal, the pressure from both supporters and pundits will only increase in the weeks ahead.