Tottenham Hotspur have opened talks with Newcastle United over a deal for Sandro Tonali according to the usually very reliable David Ornstein of The Athletic.
Ohers in the media were claiming late Saturday that Spurs had seen an £80m bid turned down by Newcastle United.
Meanwhile, David Ornstein with this more restrained Saturday night report/update, claiming the opening of official talks rather than a concrete offer already made.
It is always a case of picking and choosing who you believe in these transfer stories and I think my feeling is that the man from The Athletic is probably closest to the truth.
I think what probably isn’t in doubt now is that if somebody meets Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali valuation then he could leave.
Whether that could be Tottenham remains to be seen.
I can’t help but think that Newcastle United are happy to engage in talks with Tottenham to then help draw out the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City, clubs that you could see Sandro Tonali potentially wanting to join, as opposed to Tottenham which makes absolutely no sense in terms of player ambition.
David Ornstein reports that Tottenham are: ‘…vying with Manchester City to sign Tonali if he leaves St James’ Park — but by making club-to-club contact, it steps up the pursuit and underlines their intent to strike a deal. Discussions between the 26-year-old midfielder’s representatives and both suitors continue, as they attempt to make an agreement on personal terms. Newcastle will seek about £100million ($133m) to consider selling the Italy international, whose contract runs until 2029 and has a 12-month extension option.’
Ornstein going on to say: ‘The Athletic reported on June 16 that Tottenham were in positive talks with Tonali’s camp and they had yet to engage with Newcastle on the matter. This has now changed and Spurs will hope that a high salary offer, head coach Roberto De Zerbi pushing for the transfer and the appeal of London may help swing the situation in their direction. Newcastle have remained open to selling Tonali this summer, should a bid meet their demands, having already sold winger Anthony Gordon for £69.3m to Barcelona.’