Sandro Tonali is a Tottenham Hotspur player, putting a swift end to rumours he might end up being at Arsenal for next season.
Tonali had been linked with a move to The Emirates ever since the season finished and it looked at one point that Arsenal might well pull the trigger on a deal.
However, Tonali has now signed for Spurs in a deal worth around £100m, where the Italian will also be the club’s top earner and highest paid player since Harry Kane departed.
But while Tonali is a Spurs player, there are suggestions he still would have preferred Arsenal.
Here, then, are the reasons why Arsenal didn’t go all in on signing the Italian.
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Arsenal refused to pay the money to sign Sandro Tonali
This will feel like a small win for Arsenal fans but the Daily Mail are claiming that while Tonali has signed for Tottenham, he actually wanted the move to Arsenal.
Tonali and his agent apparently made it clear to Arsenal that he’d like to sign.
However, with wages of around £280,000-a-week on offer at Tottenham and the £100m transfer fee, Arsenal pulled the plug.
It’s claimed by The Mail that Arsenal felt the funds – both wages and transfer fee – would be better spent elsewhere during this window.
Quite where that money is spent, remains to be seen.
Mikel Arteta is keen on adding a new midfielder and left winger as a priority. However, more will also be needed, with the futures of players like Ben White also up in the air.
As for Tonali, it is a shame we haven’t seen him sign for the Gunners, even if the money did end up being big.
It does seem Tottenham are making a real go of things this year. They’ll still be a way off Arsenal but the signing of Tonali proves that there’s always competition in the market, regardless of if you’re league champions.
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