There have, unfortunately, been a high number of Tottenham Hotspur players who have started the 2026/27 Premier League season putridly, because from Mathys Tel to Micky van de Ven, many of the key players Spurs fans were high on have not exactly covered themselves in glory thus far.
But by far the most disappointing individual through the first three games of the campaign, including the League Cup, is 100 million pound transfer Sandro Tonali. Pinpointed as the quarterback of Roberto De Zerbi's system and the new face of the team after setting a transfer record in the same summer that Spurs also splurged 85 million pounds each on Mateus Fernandes and Savio, Tonali has been nowhere near even an average Premier League starting midfielder in both of his outings.
He looked flat out lost against Brentford, getting outmuscled and outsmarted by a hungry Bees side at the Gtech Stadium. As Tottenham fans wrote the first game off as Tonali just getting his feet wet and also getting screwed over by how beyond awful Conor Gallagher and Lucas Bergvall were around him and then drew optimism from De Zerbi saying that he was not yet fully fit, Tonali dropped another stinker.
Sandro Tonali needs time with Spurs
This time, Sandro Tonali embarrassed himself against Newcastle United, his former team, and while most Spurs fans are preaching patience, after two terrible losses with a lot of money spent and what seems like a repeat of what was seen under Thomas Frank, Spurs fans are getting restless. And there is a contingent of them who are beginning to severely doubt the investment in Tonali even after just two games.
But players like Tonali who thrive on patterns, consistency, and building rapport with the other midfielders are a lot tougher to evaluate in just a few games. Tonali, unlike someone who plays like Mateus Fernandes, needs more time, and while Fernandes's amazing and quick adaptation period to Tottenham does Tonali no favors by comparison, the two can't be pitted against each other.
Roberto De Zerbi's new ideas are still coming into flow with the team, and the chemistry of the main XI is still clearly yet to be built. Tonali took time even in Serie A to become a top, top player and a Scudetto winner at AC Milan, and Tottenham fans need to keep that in mind before they already begin to write him off after two rough starts.
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