Tottenham Hotspur spent a whopping 100 million pounds to sign Sandro Tonali, but if the Italian international is able to play to his full potential, then he is fully capable of being one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.
Although Tonali had a terrible start to the season, getting smacked around by Brentford and Newcastle United in combined 5-0 defeats, he improved significantly, particularly defensively, in 0-0 draws with Nottingham Forest and Everton.
Most of the praise for Tonali lately has been about his defensive work and ability to help Spurs dominate possession, but with Tottenham Hotspur struggling to score the goals or even create high quality shooting opportunities for the struggling forwards, Tonali has been left wanting in the creative aspect, with the wider Premier League media already bashing the signing due to the cost.
Sandro Tonali has been a real presence in the attacking third
But the objective data paints a more interesting picture about Tonali and indicates that he is doing a lot more to help out on the attacking end than what meets the eye. According to analytics from Squawka, via Arabic Spurs, Sandro Tonali is ninth among all Premier League players right now in terms of completed passes in the final third with 79.
The players ahead of him include a who's who of the best midfielders in the Premier League on big clubs like Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans of Manchester United, Arsenal's enviable duo of Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, and new Manchester City star Elliot Anderson.
Tonali has not created many chances or had an assist yet for Tottenham, but he is a constant presence in the final third and is doing a great job of taking up positions where he can impact play in the attacking zones of the field.
It is not actually his job, as a No. 6 and No. 8 hybrid player, to be the one to directly create the clear chances or assists, so he is actually very much doing his job of being there in the attacking zones to keep play ticking over and keep up the pressure on the defense in their zone of the pitch.
When James Maddison returns and if new star forward Omar Marmoush can improve, Tottenham should have more ammo to help take advantage of the quality spells of possession Tonali is generating in the final third and turn those spells into actual goals - and thus wins for this winless Spurs side.
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