Sandro Tonali: Tottenham's £100m Record Signing

Roberto De Zerbi did not bother dressing it up.

“Sandro Tonali is better than I thought.”

For a manager who chooses his words carefully, that is a striking verdict on Tottenham’s new record signing, a £100million gamble from Newcastle that has instantly become the centrepiece of a lavish summer.

Spurs are on course to smash through the £300m barrier in transfer spending once the deal for Savinho is wrapped up — £75m to Manchester City with a further £10m in add-ons on the table. Yet even in that blizzard of numbers, Tonali stands apart. The most expensive of the lot. The one they have effectively built the window around.

De Zerbi knows exactly what he has walked into. Expectations at that price are brutal. Output is scrutinised, every touch weighed and measured. Tonali arrives in north London off the back of a Premier League season at Newcastle in which he did not score in 32 games. On paper, that is not the return usually associated with a £100m midfielder.

But Spurs did not buy the spreadsheet. They bought the player De Zerbi thought he knew — and has now discovered is even better.

The connection between the two is not new. It runs back to Brescia, the city that shaped them both. De Zerbi grew up there; Tonali spent nine years at Brescia’s club, coming through the academy and into the first team with the poise and bite that made Europe’s elite take notice. They share a footballing language, a sense of place.

That familiarity gave De Zerbi confidence when Tottenham pushed for the deal. Working with Tonali every day has turned that confidence into conviction.

“He is better than I thought before working with him as a player and as a guy,” De Zerbi said on Friday, doubling down on his first impression. This was not just about technique or tactics. It was about the person they have brought into the dressing room.

“I know his family, his agents, and I know they all are good people,” he added. That matters to De Zerbi. Spurs are not only assembling a squad; they are building what the head coach repeatedly refers to as a “project”. The Italian wants players who will live inside it, not simply pass through.

“I’m very happy to work with him and I think he’s the right player in the right place. Especially because we want to put him inside of the project.

“He has the right qualities, the right personality, the right values, to stay in this place.”

The words are deliberate. Qualities. Personality. Values. De Zerbi is staking more than just a tactical role on Tonali. He sees a midfielder capable of knitting together the structure he wants — balanced on the ball, aggressive without it, emotionally strong enough to carry the weight of that fee and the demands that come with it.

Tonali’s reputation across recent seasons backs that belief. He has been viewed as a complete midfielder: someone who can set the tempo from deep, drive through the lines, and still handle the defensive grind. That profile persuaded Spurs to go big when the chance arose, even with the goal column from last year stubbornly stuck at zero.

Now he steps into a club that has spent heavily, hired a manager with a clear identity, and made him the most expensive signing in its history.

The numbers will follow him everywhere. De Zerbi’s verdict suggests he is ready for that. The real question is whether the Premier League is ready for the version of Sandro Tonali his new manager has just discovered.