Tottenham have reached an agreement with Newcastle United for midfielder Sandro Tonali in a deal that will smash their transfer record.
The Italy international is expected to move to north London for a fee of £92m – more with add-ons – as Roberto De Zerbi’s side ramp up their summer plans.
The Tonali breakthrough comes shortly after pipping Manchester United to £85m midfielder Mateus Fernandes.
It signals a major shift as Spurs prioritise getting business done early – and ensuring they no longer miss out on those “big ticket” deals after the humiliation of seeing Eberechi Eze and Morgan Gibbs-White go elsewhere.
It is a particular feather in their cap that Manchester City were still pushing for Tonali and he has opted for Tottenham despite their absence of European football, having finished 17th and narrowly avoided relegation last season.
Where is the money coming from?
Spurs have been highly active in the market, albeit some of their transfers have been free – Andy Robertson, Marcos Senesi, Martin Dubravka. Jan Paul van Hecke joined for £52m from Brighton, which will be partly offset by Luka Vuskovic going the other way for around £10m less.
As for Tonali, it is possible to amortise the outgoing fees, so that for Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) Spurs could split the fee over five years.
“They’ve never been in any way, shape or form close to the PSR threshold,” says Rob Wilson, football finance expert at the University Campus of Football Business.
“So they’ve got all of that in the bank. We’ve got this interesting point this year where PSR is changing to squad cost ratio (SCR). The squad cost ratio will work out as a percentage of their income, and their income is significant in the context of the Premier League – so that’s why they’ll be outspending, you’d imagine, every team from at least eighth down.
“It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if they spent £200-250m as a gross spend – and then you’ve got players they might sell to bring the overall outgoing budget down.”
Both PSR and SCR will be calculate over a three-year period, further allowing Spurs to spend.
They do not tend to make losses, which means in theory, Wilson says they could “almost throw the kitchen sink at it in one summer, knowing that they would then be in almost a breach position, you can then recover that over that three-year period assuming your sporting performance is really good”.
The club is also benefiting from its commercial revenue – the concerts, the NFL, boxing and go-karting. Much-maligned as those activities are by some fans, in 2025 Spurs’ commercial revenue was £277m – bigger than 40 per cent of the revenue budget for other clubs in the Premier League.
That will allow them to withstand missing out on Champions League football, which has cost them £80m.
Latest on other targets
Other pursuits are less concrete. Marcus Rashford is a player on their list, particularly as he is seen as a player who would solve the headaches on the left and at No 9 all at once. Rashford is valued at around £40m by Manchester United after a successful loan spell at Barcelona. Savinho is an alternative still being monitored with the winger expected to leave Manchester City.
Who could leave?
Guglielmo Vicario has moved a step closer to the exit with a return to Serie A the most likely destination. Dubravka’s arrival means there is now another back-up goalkeeper ready, with De Zerbi impressed enough by Antonin Kinsky that he considers him capable of being No 1.
Yves Bissouma has already been released and there are talks ongoing over the futures of Radu Dragusin. Manor Solomon is likely to leave after spending the season on loan at Fiorentina, despite being offered brief hope of a long-term future last summer.
Lucas Bergvall is understood to have expressed a desire to leave after just 11 league starts in 2025-26.
A call will also be made on Richarlison as he enters the final year of his deal, with a new contract still possible. Richarlison and Dominic Solanke’s fitness issues, together with Randal Kolo Muani’s loan coming to an end, leaves them light for striker options.
With two high-profile midfield incomings and Rodrigo Bentancur having signed a new deal, there is now significantly more doubt over Joao Palhinha’s long-term future after his loan.
One more transfer headache
One area Spurs do need to tread carefully over is homegrown players. Premier League clubs require eight of a club’s 25-man squad list to be homegrown with a maximum of 17 non-homegrown allowed. They have eight currently, including Ben Davies (who does not qualify in Europe because he is Welsh) and Kevin Danso, an Austria international but who grew up in England.
Robertson (Scottish) does not count because he did not grow up in England or Wales and none of their major targets would count towards the quota either.
Who is calling the shots?
De Zerbi has a large say in transfers, but Spurs are still searching for a second sporting director after the move for Sebastian Kehl, formerly of Borussia Dortmund, fell through. Johan Lange remains in place for now.
In the hierarchy there is an understanding that a summer of stagnation could not be allowed to happen, lest it appear that the threat of how close Spurs came to relegation had not been taken seriously enough. The £100m extra investment from Enic a year ago gives further wiggle room.
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While both Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven have attracted interest there is a huge note of caution attached to selling both at the same time even after Van Hecke’s arrival.
“Spurs are fairly unique in that they could get away with not selling big,” Wilson adds.
“They might sell a couple of fringe players just to top up cash flow, but they could get away with waiting through the summer and seeing if they get the right bid for some of those players.
“But unquestionably, when you have a squad like they’ve assembled over the last few years that has delivered the on-field performance that they’ve delivered over those last couple of years, they will be looking at reshaping that squad without question. They’ve got some fairly decent saleable assets.”