When Tottenham released their squad picture for the 2026/27 season this month, there was one face in the men’s group that supporters couldn’t name.
Despite Roberto De Zerbi not being named in the Premier League squad for next season, Richarlison’s presence in the photo was the focus of attention. Spurs only had one foreign academy player in their first team, with now 18-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett taking his place in the back row.
In the front row of the squad was De Zerby’s captaincy group surrounding him in the form of captain Mickey van de Ven, Pedro Porro, James Maddison, Ben Davies and Archie Gray.
Along with the 29 players who made up the first team squad, De Zerbi had 10 members of the Italian squad around him who worked directly with him every week.
At the end of last season De Zerby had assistant coach Andrew Crofts, who arrived from Brighton in the summer to add to the existing first team coaching staff from his first few months.
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These include Marcattilio Marcattilii and Marcello Quinto, who come in line with their compatriots as a fitness trainer and senior professional development coach. They join a group that already includes assistant coaches Bruno Saltor and Andreas Georgson, personal development coach Cameron Campbell and goalkeeper Fabian Otte, and first team assistant goalkeeping coach Dean Brill.
All eight of those coaches are in the team photo with De Zerbi’s long-time colleague Enrico Venturelli. football.london He reportedly joined towards the end of last season as a translator for training grounds and media work.
It didn’t respond to a staff member wearing the initials “FC” in their training top in the top right of Tottenham’s squad photo and tried to find out who some of the supporters were.
Wonder no more football.london has an answer. The technical development coordinator at Spurs is Francesco Calone, who holds the official title. The Italian has left De Zerbi’s boyhood club AC Milan after eight years at the Serie A side, working as a first-team match analyst from 2024.
Calone, who has won various UEFA coaching awards, left the Milan side’s academy to help his first team and left the Italian giants on the same day De Zerbi was announced as Tottenham’s new manager. Now he is playing his part in the rebuilding of the great Spurs.