Tottenham's summer plan is not just to buy midfielders, but to build a press-resistant pairing around Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes. The club's midfield was described as a huge area of concern last season because they struggled to control games, so the target is a cleaner base for Roberto De Zerbi's setup.

Carrick's role change

Fernandes brings the defensive work. He completed 67 tackles for West Ham last term, while Kyle Walker-Peters managed 30 as his nearest competitor. He is also only 21, which makes that output more impressive than a simple stopgap number on a scout's sheet.

Tonali gives Spurs a different kind of control. He scored Newcastle's third goal in a 3-1 away win at Southampton in January 2025, after starting and finishing the move, and he has also stayed steady in league play with a 6.94 average across his last five Premier League appearances.

That mix is why Spurs are looking at the pair as a double-pivot base in a 4-2-3-1, with the option of shifting to a three-man defence. Tonali is the cleaner fit if De Zerbi wants ball security first, but Fernandes adds the ball-winning edge Spurs badly lacked when they were chasing games last season.

The price and competition problem

The football fit is only half of it. Tottenham would still have to deal with two separate markets, and neither is cheap. West Ham want £85 million for Fernandes, while Newcastle's preferred asking price for Tonali is £100 million.

The Tonali situation is not settled. Alasdair Gold said Spurs have the backing to make a statement move, and that they can offer a strong financial package, but he also noted they cannot match Champions League football that other clubs can. Gold also said the club are prioritising defence and central midfield first, which fits the idea that this is a rebuild around control rather than a splash for its own sake.

There is a real case for Spurs pushing on if they believe Tonali and Fernandes can solve the same problem from different angles. Fernandes brings the tackling volume, Tonali the calm in possession, and the club's own 17th-place finish last season explains why the brief is so aggressive. The hard part is turning that plan into two deals, and the asking prices make that the first test.

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