Sandro Tonali says Tottenham were the easy choice after a 10-minute conversation with Roberto De Zerbi. He said the pair spoke about Brescia and the difficult situation facing the club, and that he had spoken with two teams before deciding Tottenham would be his next move.

De Zerbi's Brescia link

Tonali’s own words make the pitch sound personal rather than polished. “We spoke about Brescia, about the difficult situation facing our club,” he told bbc.co.uk, before adding: “When you are happy after a 10-minute chat, it's everything, everything is perfect.”

He also said, “England was our solution and we found the best solution in England for me, for my career, for my football, for my happiness, for my family. I spoke with two teams. I understood after 10, 15 minutes that Tottenham would be my next team.” That is the key detail. This was not a long recruitment saga dragged out over weeks, it was a quick, direct sell that fitted what Tonali wanted.

Italy was the preferred move, but the money changed it

Tonali also made clear that a return home was his first preference. “We had decided to come back in Italy but it was impossible for the money,” he said. BBC reported him as a club-record £100m signing, while the Standard said the deal could be worth as much as £100m with add-ons and Chronicle Live put it at £92.5m upfront plus £7.5m in add-ons.

That range is the right way to read the fee here, because the exact total is not settled across the reporting. What is clear is that the price took a return to Italy out of reach and pushed the move toward Newcastle's Premier League route instead.

The club context helps explain why Tottenham were ready to move. They finished 17th in the Premier League, Newcastle finished 12th, and both clubs were coming off seasons that demanded hard decisions in the market. Tonali’s recent Newcastle ratings were 6.7 against West Ham, 6.9 against Nottingham Forest and 7.2 against Brighton, solid enough to show he was still contributing before the switch.

The transfer story is not really about a fee headline. It is about a player who wanted Italy, could not make the numbers work, and was persuaded by a coach he already trusted. On that evidence, De Zerbi’s 10-minute pitch looks like the decisive part of the move.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →