Sandro Tonali’s much-anticipated Tottenham debut turned into a nightmare, as the Italian struggled alongside his new midfield teammates in the £100 million signing’s first outing following his move from Newcastle — a game Spurs went on to lose 3-0 to Brentford last weekend.
Roberto De Zerbi made changes for the midweek Carabao Cup tie against Charlton Athletic, keeping faith in Lucas Bergvall but shifting his partner to Rodrigo Bentancur, while handing Mateus Fernandes his first full start in the number 10 role. Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro also featured for the first time this season, coming on as substitutes.
Tonali’s absence from the squad sheet, however, caught the attention of worried fans online — a reaction that’s hardly surprising given how injury-hit Tottenham have been over the last couple of campaigns.
De Zerbi moved quickly to calm any fears, explaining that both Tonali and Marcos Senesi had been left out of the squad because they were putting in extra work on their fitness at the club’s training base. Crucially, he confirmed that the Italian midfielder is on course to return to the starting lineup this weekend when Spurs travel to face his old club, Newcastle United.
Speaking about whether the decision was made with one eye on Saturday’s game, De Zerbi explained that Tonali had spent the previous day working intensively alongside Senesi to build up their physical condition, adding that while there’s still progress to be made, Tonali will be back in the starting eleven this weekend.
It’s news that will go down well with the Tottenham faithful, who can now look forward to seeing their record signing line up from the off against Newcastle.
