Tottenham made a £185million investment this summer in the two brand new midfielders for their head coach and the reasons are clear
Roberto De Zerbi will start working with Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes in the days ahead and it will soon become clear why he was keen for Tottenham to sign the £185million duo.
Spurs broke their transfer record to bring in Fernandes for £85million from West Ham with the Portuguese turning 22 years old on Friday. They then smashed that record again to add Tonali to their ranks in a deal for the 26-year-old that could eventually be worth £100million to Newcastle.
Fernandes got to work on the first day of pre-season testing and gym work on Friday along with the other non-World Cup Tottenham players at Hotspur Way, with Tonali's involvement work permit permitting.
The north London club made a big statement in the transfer market with both signings but there is a more practical element to why De Zerbi believed the two midfielders would be perfect within his new-look team and would ensure Tottenham's coming season will be far better than the two previous 17th-place finishes.
The key for De Zerbi's style of play in the campaign ahead will be retaining the ball and using it properly, something Spurs struggled with last season under their various head coaches. The Italian's key tactic in building up the play from the back is baiting the opposition press and drawing out opposing players before either carrying the ball past them or passing it around them.
In his final club interview before heading off on his summer break, the Spurs head coach said that he was "looking forward to building a new team" and explained what would be the focus of his efforts in the transfer market and on the training pitches of the club's Enfield complex.
"I want to improve the quality of the play, for sure. I want to improve build-up because normally you are focused on the last 30m, but you can improve the last 30m if you play better in the first 70m," he said. "In build-up, we have to improve in the ball possession, we have to improve in the control of the game, for sure in the finishing, the last pass, the assists, a lot of things. We have time now to organise the improvement of the play."
FOLLOW OUR TOTTENHAM FB PAGE! Latest Spurs news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
Key to that will be the possession play of Tonali and Fernandes. Using statistics provided by BOYLE Sports, the improvement that the duo will bring in that area is clear.
Using last season's per 90 minutes numbers, both of the new recruits would have immediately ranked among the club’s strongest possession players. Tonali completed 46.7 passes per 90, more than any Tottenham midfielder across the campaign, while Fernandes completed 40.7 at an impressive 87.5% accuracy, with the passes completed placing him third behind Tonali and Rodrigo Bentancur but his accuracy higher than anyone.
The midfield upgrade becomes even clearer when looking at progressive passing and that will be the key to De Zerbi's style of football.
At West Ham, Fernandes averaged 6.5 line-breaking passes per 90 minutes, ahead of Tonali on 6.0 with both far above every Spurs midfielder from last season. Joao Palhinha was the north London club's top midfielder in that department but only managed 4.5 per game.
It's the same in the final third, where Fernandes again led the way with 3.7 line-breaking passes per 90, followed by Tonali on 3.3. Pape Matar Sarr was the closest existing Spurs midfielder on 2.5 while the likes of Palhinha and Bentancur managed just 1.6 and 1.5 respectively.
It's not just about passing the ball as carrying it will be key and Tonali comes out on top by a distance in this statistic with 6.1 progressive carries per 90 minutes and Fernandes 4.9 with only Sarr and Lucas Bergvall's respective 5.6 and 5.0 getting between them.
Both players rank high in defensive work with possession won 5.2 times per 90 by Tonali and 5.4 by Fernandes, which is bettered only by Bentancur (6.2) and Conor Gallagher (5.5).
When it comes to duels won, only Palhinha (7.9) came out higher than Fernandes (5.9) and with duel success again only Palhinha came out with a higher percentage (61.7 per cent) than both Tonali (54.9) and Fernandes (55.4).
Fernandes carries more of a goal threat than Tonali with his seven goal involvements matching Palhinha's across last season, while the Italian managed just the two assists in his more withdrawn role.
However, there's no doubt that when you look across the numbers, the two newcomers come out as stronger all-rounders in the build-up areas and most importantly keeping the ball and getting it through to the attacking players quickly and successfully.
De Zerbi's Tottenham will depend on that and £185million will be money well spent if the duo become the fulcrum of this new era at the club.