Tottenham shatter transfer record again with £100m deal to sign Sandro Tonali from Newcastle

Tottenham Hotspur have agreed a deal to sign Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali for a fee that could reach £100 million, breaking their own transfer record just 24 hours after completing the signing of Mateus Fernandes from West Ham. The initial fee is understood to be £92.5 million, with a further £7.5 million in performance-related add-ons.

Head coach Roberto De Zerbi had identified the 26-year-old Italy international as a priority summer target, and Tonali chose Spurs despite significant interest from Manchester City and Arsenal. The deal was struck with Newcastle on Wednesday, with Tonali set to join his compatriot De Zerbi in north London.

The back-to-back record-breaking signings represent a dramatic shift in approach at Spurs. Under chairman Daniel Levy, the club built a long-standing reputation for fiscal caution and a rigid wage structure — a policy that now appears to have been decisively abandoned. Majority owners the Lewis family, who invited Levy to step down in September, pledged to fund a full rebuild this summer and have delivered on that promise. De Zerbi is set to have six new additions in place before his squad returns for pre-season later in July.

The Italian manager steered Spurs to Premier League safety on the final day of the 2025-26 season, winning three of his seven matches in charge, and made clear that a significant overhaul was necessary. The club has already brought in Andrew Robertson, Marcos Senesi and Martin Dubravka on free transfers, and spent £52 million to sign Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke from Brighton. Fernandes’s £85 million move from West Ham and now Tonali’s arrival complete a midfield transformation.

Earlier reports suggested Newcastle had made a bid for Spurs midfielder Archie Gray as part of the Tonali negotiations, but PA understands that is not the case and the England Under-21 international is not involved in the deal.

Moving in the opposite direction, young centre-back Luka Vuskovic is set to leave Tottenham for Brighton. The Croatian defender, who signed for Spurs in 2023 at the age of 16 for £12 million, never made a competitive appearance for the club but earned a strong reputation across several loan spells. Brighton are understood to be paying £46 million to secure him, with Vuskovic having made clear his desire for regular first-team football.