Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Tottenham want to sign both Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes this summer.
Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Tottenham Hotspur are not choosing between Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes this summer. They want both, as reported by Spurs Daily on X.
The revelation reframes the entire narrative surrounding Tottenham’s midfield rebuild. For weeks, the assumption had been that Fernandes and Tonali represented competing priorities, with the club pursuing one while monitoring the other as an alternative. Romano’s clarification dismantles that reading entirely. Tottenham are not operating a plan A and plan B in midfield. They are actively working to sign two of the most coveted central midfielders in English football simultaneously.
The ambition behind that approach is staggering in the context of where Tottenham were just months ago. A club that spent much of the season fighting relegation with a skeleton squad and one point from a possible 24 in the Premier League under Igor Tudor is now chasing a midfield overhaul worth somewhere in the region of £170 million or more, with Tonali commanding a bid exceeding €100 million from Newcastle and West Ham holding firm at £80 million for Fernandes.
Tottenham want both Tonali and Fernandes
Roberto De Zerbi’s fingerprints are clearly on this strategy. The Italian has been consistently identified as the driving force behind both pursuits, with his direct communication and clear tactical vision understood to have been central to both players’ interest in the project. Signing Tonali alongside Fernandes would give De Zerbi one of the most technically accomplished and physically formidable midfield pairings in the Premier League, combining Tonali’s dictatorial presence and defensive intelligence with Fernandes’ progressive carrying and technical security.
The Lewis family’s commitment to backing De Zerbi with eight signings this summer, as reported by Sky Sports News, provides the financial context for an approach of this scale. What had initially seemed like an ambitious but vague pledge is now beginning to take concrete shape, with the double midfield pursuit representing perhaps the clearest illustration yet of how seriously that promise is being acted upon.
Whether Tottenham can complete both deals before the window closes remains to be seen, given the complexity of negotiating with Newcastle and West Ham simultaneously while managing multiple other live pursuits. But Romano’s confirmation that the club want both players removes any doubt about the direction of travel. This is not a club planning cautiously around its limitations. It is a club swinging for the fences.
