Sandro Tonali ‘getting closer’ to Tottenham move despite Man City hijack link
Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali is reportedly ‘getting closer’ to completing a move to Tottenham despite Man City wanting to hijack the deal.
Spurs have already made big strides in the transfer market with the Tottenham hierarchy getting four deals over the line ahead of the start of the new season.
Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dubravka have all moved to Tottenham on free transfers from Liverpool, Bournemouth and Burnley respectively, while Jan Paul van Hecke has arrived from Brighton in a deal worth £52m.
And Fabrizio Romano revealed on Tuesday that Tottenham are close to wrapping up their fifth signing of the summer with Spurs set to beat Manchester United to the signing of West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes.
Romano said on his YouTube channel: “It’s done—Matheus Fernandes will play for Tottenham Hotspur and not for Manchester United.
“Man United have been in conversation for a long time with Fernandes until Tuesday morning. I can guarantee to you that before lunchtime, Manchester United were still in contact with the agent of the player, still in contact with West Ham.
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“But what made the difference is the transfer fee, because Manchester United were not matching the £85m valuation in full. They were never going to pay £85 million in full, but they were prepared to reach £85 million including add-ons.
“Tottenham arrived with an £85 million guaranteed fee—a fixed fee, no add-ons, no future stories. West Ham have the guarantee they wanted. £85 million for a player strongly wanted by Roberto De Zerbi.
“De Zerbi was pushing like crazy behind the scenes to get Fernandes. It was not easy for Tottenham to get the green light from the player with Man United involved to play in Champions League football. Tottenham were in trouble till the final day of the Premier League season, so it’s a completely different situation.
“But now we can say that Tottenham have agreed all terms with Matheus Fernandes and also with West Ham. So, £85 million—the most expensive deal in history for Tottenham.
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“Tottenham remain in conversations with Newcastle for Sandro Tonali. So we have to see also the outcome of that conversation between Tottenham and Newcastle, but for sure they are working very hard to rebuild the midfield.”
Tottenham set to avoid Man City hijack for Tonali
Their deal for Tonali had seemingly come into doubt on Tuesday with reports from Spanish newspaper Marca claiming that Manchester City are ‘preparing’ to hijack Tottenham’s transfer.
The report added that Man City are ‘prepared to push for over €110 million, which would be another blockbuster transfer in the Premier League this season.’
However, reliable Italian journalist Nicolo Schira has revealed that Tottenham are ‘getting closer’ and not further away from signing Tonali from Newcastle.
Schira wrote on X: ‘Excl. – Sandro #Tonali is getting closer to #Tottenham from #Newcastle for a transfer fee over €100M. The midfielder has a total agreement with #THFC for a contract until 2032 (€12M/year) and has given his availability to De Zerbi, who had a key-role to convince him despite other two bids from top english clubs. #transfers.’
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