Former Liverpool man Graeme Souness has questioned whether Tottenham’s new signing Sandro Tonali is worth £100 million after the Italian’s slow start to life at Spurs.
Tottenham Hotspur showed real ambition in the just‑concluded summer transfer window as they splashed the cash, bringing in players for big money.
The Lilywhites completed a whopping 54 transfers, including new signings, sales and loans across their men’s first team.
In all, it was a historic transfer window in which Spurs spent a huge £394 million (€394m) on recruits – the most in their entire history.
This summer also saw Spurs break their transfer record twice in the space of a week, first doing so with the £85 million signing of Mateus Fernandes, which was quickly followed by the record arrival of Sandro Tonali for £100 million.
Graeme Souness questions whether Tottenham’s £100m Sandro Tonali is worth the fee
All of Spurs’ new signings have already begun to settle in, with eight of them managing minutes in the Premier League.
Jan Paul van Hecke and Sandro Tonali are the only players to have started every Tottenham game this season, although the Dutch defender has played more minutes.
Former Liverpool man Graeme Souness, speaking on the graemesounesstackles podcast, has now given his assessment of Spurs’ record signing Sandro Tonali.
The former Premier League midfielder is far from impressed with what he has seen so far from Tonali at Spurs and has questioned whether the Italian is worth the £100 million fee.
He said: “Tonali – is he a £100 million footballer? It is not the boy’s fault. I think he is an ordinary Joe. I think he is very steady, he will give you what he has got in terms of effort, quite aggressive, good athlete, not great on the ball, not great in seeing a cute and clever pass. Again, I think he is a £100 million footballer? I describe him as a steady eddy.”
Tonali still searching for rhythm as De Zerbi urges patience
While Tonali has yet to get into a rhythm at Tottenham, the midfielder’s quality was laid bare during his time at Newcastle.
Last season alone, Tonali’s underlying numbers were far more impressive than any of Spurs’ midfielders in the middle of the park.
| Player | Successful passes | Pass success % | Accurate long balls | Chances created | Defensive contributions | Tackles | Interceptions | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandro Tonali | 1,319 | 84.4% | 71 | 32 | 257 | 35 | 31 | 0 | 2 |
| Rodrigo Bentancur | 873 | 85.8% | 19 | 10 | 276 | 56 | 35 | 1 | 1 |
| Pape Matar Sarr | 538 | 85.0% | 20 | 11 | 185 | 33 | 18 | 2 | 4 |
| Archie Gray | 448 | 83.1% | 21 | 8 | 133 | 11 | 17 | 2 | 2 |
| Lucas Bergvall | 249 | 81.6% | 10 | 5 | 78 | 22 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Conor Gallagher | 444 | 84.7% | 20 | 13 | 124 | 23 | 18 | 1 | 1 |
| Joao Palhinha | 856 | 82.0% | 41 | 8 | 302 | 110 | 30 | 5 | 2 |
However, Tonali has certainly not reached those heights so far, and that is something Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi has even acknowledged, with the manager revealing that the record signing is not at peak physical condition.
He said following the defeat to Newcastle, where Tonali did not have the best of games: “Sandro Tonali is another crucial player, he is not in the right condition, in the best condition yet, maybe physically, even though he worked with us at the beginning of the pre‑season.
“I think if I was positive last season when we were in the Championship, because when I came we were in the Championship, what do you think my thoughts now could be?”
The hope now for Spurs will be for the midfielder to get into a rhythm with each passing game.