"People said about there being four or five clubs," Sandro Tonali said in his Tottenham unveiling statement. "There was only one." When a player turns down that kind of competition, you're doing something right in your recruitment.
Tottenham confirmed the signing of the Italian midfielder from Newcastle on Monday for a reported £100 million — a club record. The extraordinary part? It's the second time in five days they've broken that record, having paid West Ham £85 million for Mateus Fernandes last Thursday. Total summer spend: north of $300 million.
For a club that finished 17th in back-to-back Premier League seasons, this is not a rebuild. It's a demolition and reconstruction.
De Zerbi's fingerprints are all over this
Tonali was explicit about why he chose Spurs over the reported interest from Manchester United and others: Roberto De Zerbi. The Italian manager, handed a five-year deal when he was appointed, is clearly being backed to an extent his predecessors — Mourinho, Conte, Postecoglou — never were. Tonali described De Zerbi's presence as a "huge" factor, citing shared nationality and a "lifestyle and family choice" after becoming a father last year.
The squad De Zerbi has assembled now includes Tonali and Fernandes in midfield, centre-backs Jan Paul van Hecke and Marco Senesi, and former Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson. That's five senior signings in one window, two of them breaking the club's transfer record within the same week. Title challengers won't fear Spurs yet — but mid-table rivals absolutely should. Tottenham's odds for a top-six finish look very different today than they did in May.
What Tonali brings — and what Newcastle loses
The 10-month betting ban Tonali served early in his Newcastle career raised questions. His performances since returning answered most of them. He's established himself as one of the most complete midfielders in the Premier League — physical, technically clean, capable of dictating tempo in a way that suits exactly what De Zerbi demands from the engine room.
For Newcastle, losing him hurts, though the £100 million helps soften it. They've already moved to reinvest, signing 20-year-old Ivory Coast winger Bazoumana Toure for £43 million — a player who put up five goals and nine assists in the Bundesliga last season for Hoffenheim. It reads like a direct replacement for Anthony Gordon, who left for Barcelona before the World Cup. Whether Toure can fill that role in the Premier League immediately is the open question hanging over St. James' Park.
The Tonali sale is the second-largest fee Newcastle have ever received for a player, trailing only the Alexander Isak deal with Liverpool. They are, at least, spending it.
Tottenham, though, are the story of this window. Chairman Peter Charrington wrote in an open letter last season that "football success had not been driving our decisions." The departure of long-serving chairman Daniel Levy — pragmatic to a fault, by many supporters' reckoning — and two consecutive near-relegations appear to have concentrated minds. This summer is the proof of intent. Whether it translates into points is what the next nine months will determine.
