LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) —Big-spending Tottenham found money can’t buy instant success as they slumped to a woeful 3-0 defeat at Brentford in their first game of the Premier League season on Saturday.

Tottenham have splashed out over £200 million ($272 million) in a bid to improve a squad that narrowly avoided relegation to the Championship on the final day of last season.

Roberto De Zerbi gave debuts to four of his new recruits as Sandro Tonali, Andrew Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Jan Paul van Hecke all started, while Mateus Fernandes came off the bench in the second half.

But Brentford, assembled on a fraction of Tottenham’s budget, ran riot in west London with a dynamic display that exposed the flaws in the visitors’ costly rebuilding plan.

Keane Lewis-Potter and Vitaly Janelt netted for Keith Andrews’ side in the first half before Michael Kayode struck after the interval.

It could have been even worse for Tottenham as Igor Thiago missed a penalty that would have put Brentford four up.

Tottenham’s spending is far from over, with Brazil winger Savinho set to arrive from Manchester City.

Savinho’s City team-mate Omar Marmoush is also a target in a pair of deals that would take the Tottenham spree well past £300 million.

De Zerbi has said he wants to find “the soul of the team”, urging them to learn the lessons of their embarrassing 17th-place finish last season.

Instead, he made the curious decision to make 20-year-old Archie Gray the youngest captain in Tottenham’s history and then watched as his team delivered a spineless performance lacking heart and leadership.

It was only the second time in the last 11 seasons that Tottenham had lost their opening game.\

Rock star Jon Bon Jovi was watching from the stands, prompting inevitable “Livin’ on a prayer” jokes after Tottenham’s wretched capitulation.

Brentford needed just 12 minutes to show they weren’t intimidated by their budget-busting opponents.

Mamadou Sangare’s driving run took him through Tottenham’s feeble midfield and his cut-back was perfectly weighted for Lewis-Potter to finish with aplomb.

It was an eye-catching contribution from Mali midfielder Sangare, who joined for a club record £39 million from Lens in the close season.

For all their recent expenditure, Tottenham lacked a dynamic presence like Sangare as they laboured to break down Brentford’s well-drilled defence.

Ponderous in possession and shambolic at the back, De Zerbi’s team conceded again in the 33rd minute.

Tottenham forward Richarlison surrendered the ball far too easily and and Lucas Bergvall failed to bail out his team-mate with a weak tackle on Mathias Jensen.

With Tottenham backing off, Jensen was able to unload a powerful strike that Antonin Kinsky carelessly parried towards Janelt, who slotted into the empty net from close range.

Tonali hardly looked worth the £100 million splashed out to sign him from Newcastle when the Italy midfielder blazed high over the bar.

De Zerbi sent on Fernandes, signed from West Ham for £85 million in the close season, and Rodrigo Bentancur in a revamped midfield.

But the changes didn’t address Tottenham’s woeful defence and Brentford capitalised to score their third goal just four minutes into the second half.

Sangare met Nathan Collins’ header from a corner with a blistering effort that hit Kinsky in the face and rebounded for Kayode to stab home from six yards as Tottenham’s defenders stood statuesque.

Thiago hit the post with a 55th-minute penalty, awarded for Bentancur’s barge into Kevin Schade, but the damage to Tottenham was already insurmountable.