Sandro Tonali has opened up on his decision to turn down Manchester City in favour of a club-record £100m move to Tottenham Hotspur. He revealed that a brief but decisive conversation with Roberto De Zerbi settled his mind before City could make their case.
City had spent much of the early summer positioning themselves as genuine contenders for the Newcastle United midfielder, with Enzo Maresca, newly installed at the Etihad following Pep Guardiola’s departure, said to be a long-standing admirer of the Italy international.
The Cityzens were reportedly prepared to go as high as £95m and match Tottenham’s £275,000-a-week wage offer to hijack the deal, viewing Tonali as the ideal midfield reinforcement alongside new signing Elliot Anderson.
But by his own account, Tonali’s head had already been turned elsewhere. Speaking to reporters in Australia during Tottenham’s pre-season tour, the 26-year-old described a ten-minute chat with De Zerbi that convinced him the switch to north London was right, even as he weighed a possible return to Italy.
He said he and his new manager had bonded over their shared roots at Brescia, the club De Zerbi supported as a boy and later played for, and where Tonali began his own senior career.
“We spoke about Brescia, about the difficult situation facing our club,” Tonali explained, referencing the Serie C side’s well-documented financial troubles.
Tonali also confirmed he held talks with a second club before committing to Spurs, though he stopped short of naming City directly.
“I spoke with my wife – this was the first thing. We wanted to change our life, but not just for the city, we wanted to change everything,” he said, adding that his first impression of De Zerbi’s project settled the matter almost immediately.
City’s midfield rebuild goes on without him
For Maresca, missing out on Tonali is a blow, if not a fatal one, to a summer that has already seen City spend heavily to reshape midfield options following the departure of Bernardo Silva to Real Madrid on a free transfer.
The Italian, who returned to the Etihad having previously worked as Guardiola’s assistant before spells at Leicester and Chelsea, is understood to have pushed internally for a move for Tonali, seeing him as a tactically mature. A Champions League-tested player capable of controlling games from deep midfield in a way that would complement rather than duplicate Anderson’s energy and carrying power.
Manchester City‘s interest was never in doubt, with reports in the Spanish press suggesting the club was prepared to push beyond €110m to prise him away from either Newcastle or Tottenham.
That City were willing to go toe-to-toe financially with Spurs underlines how seriously Maresca’s project is being backed in the transfer market as the club moves into its first full season of the post-Guardiola era.
Tottenham, for their part, will feel vindicated. Their pursuit of Tonali had been built on the relationship between De Zerbi and the player’s agent, Giuseppe Riso, a connection that appears to have given Spurs a head start City could not overcome despite their financial muscle.
Personal terms were agreed as early as mid-June, and the north London club ultimately paid in the region of £92.5m, with a further £7.5m in add-ons taking the total package to £100m. The fee makes Tonali the most expensive Italian player in the history of the game and comfortably a club-record signing for Tottenham.
