No one is talking about £175k-per-week Spurs signing

It was a summer dominated by marquee midfield signings in the Premier League, with Tottenham Hotspur‘s Sandro Tonali among them.

For all the chaos at Manchester City, it’s fair to say Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson have slotted in smoothly on the pitch, while Bruno Guimaraes has made a strong first impression at Arsenal, rifling in from range away at the Stadium of Light.

In Tonali’s case, the Italian is still waiting for a similar moment of his own, with it having been a rather underwhelming few weeks for the £100m man, it must be said.

Why Tonali has been a disappointment so far at Spurs

Considering the size of the transfer fee, expectations were high following Tonali’s move to north London, the 26-year-old cherry-picked by Roberto De Zerbi to be the centrepiece of his new-look team.

Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

Having been central to a settled, dominant midfield unit back at Newcastle United, alongside Joelinton and Guimaraes, it’s not exactly been the smoothest transition to life in the capital.

Yet to score or assist in the Premier League this season, Tonali hasn’t stamped his authority on proceedings so far, found wanting both in and out of possession.

Much of his best work often came off the ball back at St James’ Park, although he notably boasts the lowest tackle success rate of any Premier League player this season to have attempted ten, winning just 27.3% to date.

Also under the microscope amid his underwhelming displays for Italy in recent weeks, Tonali certainly hasn’t found his groove as yet.

He’s not the only one either.

Why Spurs’ summer recruitment is already under scrutiny

It is early days, yet with Spurs having gone into the international break at the foot of the table, there’s reason to be concerned about the state of things in north London.

The De Zerbi-led recruitment drive should well be under scrutiny, with far too many of the new arrivals having failed to have the desired effect thus far.

Look to Andy Robertson, for instance, the experienced Scot making that key mistake in the defeat to Aston Villa, squandering possession to allow the visitors to take the lead just before the break.

REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

Jan Paul van Hecke didn’t fare much better against the Villans either, the Dutchman given the run around by the likes of Nicolas Jackson on what was his worst outing in a Spurs shirt.

Looking to the attacking unit too, Mykhailo Mudryk has been struck down by injury without playing a single minute, while Omar Marmoush and Savio are yet to get off the mark in the Premier League, the two men having scored just four league goals between them last term.

Like Tonali has shown, the midfield unit has also struggled to click into gear, with Mateus Fernandes perhaps going under the radar in terms of his disappointing start at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

No one is talking about £175k-per-week Spurs man

Tonali, as the record signing, will no doubt dominate the headlines, yet having cost £85m himself, Fernandes also warrants scrutiny after a muted first few weeks at the club.

Indeed, Spurs will have been expecting more from the 22-year-old, not least having gifted him a reported salary of around £175k-per-week in order to tempt him into making the switch from West Ham United.

Managing to win the race for the young playmaker ahead of Manchester United looked like a real coup at the time, yet it’s been stop-start since for the Portuguese starlet.

Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers

After enduring a disrupted pre-season due to injury, Fernandes started on the bench against Brentford on the opening weekend, having started just three of the first five league games of the season.

He’s not quite nailed down starting status as yet, unlike Tonali, while he was even hooked at the break last time out against Villa, having failed to register a single key pass in that 45-minute outing.

The former Southampton man does boast a 95% pass accuracy rate so far this term, although like Tonali, he’s still waiting to get off the mark in terms of goal contributions.

Perhaps that is an unfair way to judge a midfielder, yet considering Fernandes has predominantly featured as a number ten thus far, it is a concern that he hasn’t delivered in terms of an attacking end product.

Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge

It doesn’t bode well either that De Zerbi has opted to shift him into that ill-suited, advanced role, rather than partner him with Tonali, with Rodrigo Bentancur still arguably still the leading midfielder in the group as things stand.

Fernandes, of course, is young and highly regarded, but having invested so heavily in a player who does boast two years of Premier League experience, Spurs might have expected more of an immediate impact from the Portugal U21 international.

Time is on his side, but he might need to shift back into his favoured role sooner rather than later.