Tottenham Hotspur spent nearly 200 million pounds to sign Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes in one fell swoop, as Roberto De Zerbi made it known to Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham that these two midfielders were essential to his tactical plan and to Tottenham finally achieving their bare minimum goal of making the top five in the Premier League.
Fernandes and Tonali are both young and among the best midfielders in the league, and while Tonali was the player De Zerbi targeted the most as a fellow Brescia native, the rest of the decision makers at the club have become even more impressed with Fernandes, who was so good last season on an otherwise awful West Ham United side that Jose Mourinho and Real Madrid were seriously mulling him over this transfer window.
Both Tonali and Fernandes, at the fees they commanded, are going to come right in and start for Spurs, regardless of how excellent Archie Gray looked last season - and how excellent he continues to be for the Lilywhites this preseason.
Tottenham have a crazy duo on their hands
Sandro Tonali spoke a little bit to reporters about how they can expect both he and Mateus Fernandes to fit tactically as two new blockbuster signings for Tottenham Hotspur. The Italian international said, via Spurs Insight, "For me, I played at number six last season, but for him [Mateus Fernandes], I think his characteristics are more number six than eight, but we want to start together at six."
So it sounds like Tottenham are going to play to the strengths of Tonali and Fernandes, at least based on what Tonali is saying here, and utilize a double pivot with both as No. 6's. Tonali is more of a holding player than Fernandes, who is more box to box, but both players obviously have the quality to fulfill each of these distinct roles with their intelligence, technical ability, and athleticism, and that is what makes the duo so exciting for Spurs.
Tottenham can get the best of both worlds by starting them alongside each other as 6's, allowing the No. 10, whether it is Xavi Simons or James Maddison, to be even more hyper focused on attacking and chance creation. Fernandes and Tonali will obviously shuttle back and forth, creating and progressing on the ball as they see fit, but having that other star next to him will give that extra security blanket Spurs need, especially defensively.
Add us as a preferred source on Google