July 28 (Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur midfielder ⁠James Maddison said he is excited to work under new ⁠manager Roberto De Zerbi and believes the Italian's attacking approach will ‌be a good fit for his game as the club prepares for a new Premier League campaign.

De Zerbi, 47, took charge in March after interim coach Igor Tudor was sacked ​and guided Spurs to Premier League safety, with ⁠the club finishing 17th after ⁠a final-day win over Everton.

"The manager is very clear. The goals are to ⁠be ‌better, to play better football, to be passionate and to be proud to play for this club," Maddison, 29, told reporters on ⁠Tuesday.

"If we listen to his style, principles, if ​we keep the short-term ‌targets of trying to be better and trying to implement the ⁠way he'll play, ​the long-term targets will be better in the long run," he said.

"We're still learning the way he plays. As a player he's a coach you want to ⁠play for because he loves everything with ​the ball. He's very attacking, and I'm really excited."

Maddison, whose last season was curtailed by an anterior cruciate knee ligament injury, said the focus was now ⁠on building towards Spurs' Premier League opener against Brentford on August 22.

Spurs began their pre-season tour with a 2-0 win over Auckland FC in New Zealand on Sunday and face Sydney FC on Wednesday before meeting Chelsea in ​Sydney three days later.

"First game of the season, ⁠Brentford — a big season for us under a new manager. We want to ​have a successful season," said Maddison.

"We need ‌to be better than the last couple ​of seasons. So it's kind of all just preparation leading to that first game."

(Reporting by Suramya Kaushik in BengaluruEditing by Tomasz Janowski)