Tottenham’s midfield rebuild has already been framed around expensive, headline names. Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes have naturally dominated the conversation, but a cheaper and more awkward question is now emerging from La Liga: should Roberto De Zerbi be looking harder at Samu Costa?
talkSPORT reports that Costa is being tipped for a Premier League move, with Tottenham, Chelsea, Newcastle United and Aston Villa all mooted as possible landing spots. The Mallorca midfielder has not yet been a central figure at the World Cup, but his domestic season has carried enough weight to put him into a different bracket.
For Spurs, the significance is not just another name on a shortlist. Costa sits in the space between a pure destroyer and a progressive No.8, which is precisely where De Zerbi’s midfield planning becomes complicated.
Costa Offers The Profile Tottenham Keep Circling
De Zerbi’s best midfields are rarely built around static screening. They need players who can receive under pressure, bite into duels, protect transitions and still arrive into attacking zones. Costa’s 2025/26 campaign answers enough of those questions to make him interesting.
ESPN’s player data lists him with seven La Liga goals from 31 starts, while FotMob credits him with 2,705 league minutes and a 7.01 average rating. Those numbers matter because they move him away from the narrow holding-midfielder label.
This is not simply a Joao Palhinha alternative. Palhinha is a specialist ball-winner. Costa is rougher around the edges, but he carries the extra threat of late box entries, set-piece aggression and forward passing from deep. His La Liga Goal of the Month award for October was a reminder that he can affect games beyond the first defensive contact.
That matters to Tottenham because De Zerbi’s side cannot spend the summer only chasing prestige targets. Sky Sports has already detailed the scale of the Spurs rebuild, and ReadTottenham has covered the pressure created by the Tonali and Fernandes push. Costa belongs in the next layer of that discussion.
The Competition Should Sharpen Spurs’ Decision
The problem is timing. If Tottenham genuinely like Costa, they cannot treat him as a late-window fallback while other Premier League clubs move around him. Chelsea’s midfield churn, Newcastle’s Tonali uncertainty and Villa’s need for power all create logical routes into the same conversation.
That is where De Zerbi and Johan Lange need clarity. Spurs have already invested in structure, experience and defensive security this summer. But the midfield still needs a player who can make the team more durable without slowing the build-up. Costa’s value is that he could do both jobs at once.
The counter-argument is obvious. He is not the polished statement signing that Tonali would be, and he has built this reputation in a Mallorca side that asked him to absorb pressure differently from how Tottenham want to dominate the ball. There would be adaptation risk, particularly in a Premier League midfield where loose touches are punished instantly.
Yet that is also why the link is worth Tottenham’s attention. De Zerbi does not need every signing to arrive as a finished product. He needs enough competitive edge and technical bravery to reshape a squad that became too easy to play through last season.
Costa gives Spurs a useful market test. If they only chase elite-price midfielders, they risk being trapped by inflated valuations. If they identify the right middle-tier profile early, they can protect the budget and still raise the floor of De Zerbi’s engine room.
That is why this is more than another transfer rumour. Costa may not be Tottenham’s first-choice midfield answer, but he looks like the sort of option that tells us whether the rebuild is being planned with depth, not just ambition.
