Tottenham Hotspur supporters are celebrating another blockbuster midfield transfer, as the day after securing Mateus Fernandes from rivals West Ham United, Spurs have landed an even bigger fish in former Serie A champion Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United.
Now, Spurs are not exactly getting bargain deals here, as both dream Roberto De Zerbi signings will cost a combined 185 million pounds. But as Spurs have found out the hard way after years of what amounts to futility in comparison to their financial power and fan status globally, you have to spend in order to land real talent that moves the needle.
West Ham were not the only rivals to help benefit De Zerbi and Spurs in their battle for these two potentially world class midfielders. Arsenal also have to get credit for a little bit of an assist in Spurs favor, as they were incredibly interested in Tonali throughout the 2025/26 Premier League season and actually looked like the big favorites to eventually land the Italian international in the summer after it was first revealed that Newcastle could be open to selling.
Tottenham had the pull Arsenal did not
Arsenal won the Premier League without him, but given how 2025 signing Martin Zubimendi started to show cracks in his game next to Declan Rice and was even disfavored at points by Mikel Arteta, Sandro Tonali looked like an obvious signing for Arsenal to add more athleticism and creative progression to the team.
Instead, Arsenal, for some reason, cooled their interest, potentially deciding that Tonali was too expensive or not the right fit for them. Now, they could still end up with a great deal if they can somehow sign Bruno Guimaraes from the Magpies, which looks unlikely since they would be insane to sell both Bruno G. and Tonali in the same window, but, right now, it looks like they royally screwed up by not going after the Brescia native.
Instead, Sandro Tonali was sold on the project presented by Roberto De Zerbi, whose charisma already seems to be pulling in more exciting talents to Tottenham Hotspur than the other managers in the Premier League. Arsenal are the reigning champions, but maybe there is a cost to playing the sort of gutless football and ping pong set pieces that Arteta favors.
Whatever the case, Arsenal balked at Tonali just when the race was heating up, and Tottenham kept on the pressure with De Zerbi as the driving force. And for Tottenham, the difference between 17th and 5th in the Premier League table is worth way, way more than 60 million pounds or whatever the price differential is between Tonali and Rodrigo Bentancur.
Add us as a preferred source on Google