Former Italy striker Antonio Cassano has ripped into Tottenham Hotspur star Sandro Tonali in a brutal attack on his country’s current midfield options, while also suggesting the north London club massively overpaid for their record signing.
It’s been a woeful start to the new season for Roberto De Zerbi’s side, who currently sit 19th in the Premier League table after six games and remain without a win.
There were, at least, some positives stemming from Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United, where Tottenham dominated, went behind, had Rodrigo Bentancur sent-off but still managed to earn a late draw courtesy of Dominic Solanke’s header.
One of the players who led from the front during a feisty contest was £100million summer signing Tonali, who was outstanding in the middle of the park and even switched to left-back late in the game as De Zerbi brought on more attackers from the bench.
READ: Lewis family increase stake in club as Levy slowly being squeezed out
The Italy international has looked anything but a £100m player to start the new season, with the 26-year-old struggling to replicate the form that convinced Tottenham to plash out a record amount for his services.
And it appears that Cassano is not a fan at all, coming off the back of a long international break where Tonali started three of Italy’s four games and played 262 minutes in total.
Tottenham mocked over record Tonali fee
Indeed, despite chalking up an assist at Old Trafford and producing his best display in a Spurs shirt to date, Cassano, who is a regular on the Viva El Futbol podcast, spoke about the midfielders that Italy have available to the national team right now.
And the former frontman made it clear that he isn’t a fan of many of them, including Tonali, who he believes isn’t as good as Inter Milan star Nicolo Barella.
Cassano said, via FCInter1908: “Behind Barella, there are people worse than him. Also, in my opinion, he’s both poor and overrated; I’ve been saying this for years, and you know it.”
Offering more opinion on Tonali, he added: “€110m for Tonali, €110m, madness, he’s really poor too. All coaches can have ideas.
“Tonali at €75m for Newcastle and €110m for Tottenham, it means it’s right that I’m out of football.”
READ NEXT: Premier League Power Rankings – Erling Haaland top but Brighton star rises to second
Tonali will be hoping to build on his display at United when Spurs host Coventry City in their next outing on the Monday Night Football.
One thing that will have to change quickly, though, is Tottenham’s home form, with the north London outfit having lost 22 home league games since the start of 2024/25 season.