Sandro Tonali’s Future: Arsenal and Spurs in North London Battle
Sandro Tonali’s future is back under the spotlight – and this time the glare is coming from north London and Manchester.
The Newcastle United midfielder has slipped into the final two years of his deal at St James’ Park, and that alone is enough to send Europe’s recruitment departments scrambling. Several of the Premier League’s heavyweights are watching closely. Some, according to reports, are already moving.
Arsenal v Spurs: the battle behind the scenes
Tottenham Hotspur have stepped firmly into the frame. As reported by Fabrizio Romano, Roberto De Zerbi has pinpointed Tonali as the “ideal” midfielder to accelerate Spurs’ climb up the Premier League table. Inside the club, the belief is that the Italy international would be open to the move.
But Spurs are not alone. Arsenal are tracking the situation and could yet turn this into a classic north London tug-of-war. Mikel Arteta is described as an admirer of Tonali’s profile, and the Gunners are monitoring developments as Newcastle weigh up their options.
The problem for both? Price.
Newcastle, under no pressure to sell, would demand a high fee. The Athletic report that a sale “remains possible” but stress that the club have not received any concrete offers. Multiple elite Premier League clubs are said to be monitoring Tonali, but any deal for Arsenal in particular “may prove prohibitively expensive”.
Manchester circling – blue and red
Manchester City are also in the conversation, according to Romano, adding another layer of intrigue. City’s recruitment team rarely chase players they don’t think they can land, and their presence alone tends to inflate both fees and tension.
Across town, Manchester United are keeping Tonali on a broader shortlist. He is one of four options being assessed as Michael Carrick looks to reshape United’s midfield. That wider net suggests interest rather than obsession, but United are at the table all the same.
Newcastle’s leverage – and the contract puzzle
For Newcastle, this is exactly the kind of scenario they envisaged when they paid £55 million to prise Tonali from AC Milan in July 2023. He signed a five-year contract, and crucially, there is an option to extend.
The Athletic state that the Magpies can push that deal out to June 2030. ChronicleLive, though, report the option only runs to June 2029. Either way, Newcastle hold the cards. This is not a player running down his contract with a free transfer on the horizon. This is a valuable asset with years left and a market that knows it.
Tonali himself has tried to cool the noise. Back in April 2026, speaking to Sky Sports, he addressed speculation over his future.
“In football, if you play well, you have to deal with the transfer rumours,” he said. “But if you concentrate 100 per cent on your game, and you’re happy, you don’t have to think about anything or speak about anything.”
The message was simple: focus on the pitch, not the market.
The plan behind the move
His agent, Giuseppe Riso, has been more expansive about the thinking that took Tonali to Tyneside in the first place. Talking to Italian outlet Calcio & Finanza, Riso laid out Newcastle’s appeal and the long-term vision.
“The deal came about because a club like Newcastle with unlimited financial resources had decided to invest in Sandro,” he said. “We considered the idea of having the player play in a higher-level league.”
Riso made it clear that the Premier League was always part of a bigger plan. A move to England, he suggested, was a step towards the very elite.
On the prospect of a future switch to clubs like Arsenal or Manchester City, he added: “Exactly, that was the goal from the moment he went to England – to try to make him a star player. I think he’s the Italian footballer with one of the highest values in the world.”
That line will not have gone unnoticed in boardrooms from London to Manchester. Nor, crucially, in Newcastle’s own offices, where every word helps shape the market.
Arsenal’s next leap
Arsenal’s interest in Tonali sits within a wider push to upgrade again after another big-spending summer. The club poured around £250 million into the squad last year and still came up short in Europe, losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final.
Arteta did not hide the scale of the task ahead when he faced reporters after that defeat.
“First of all, I will take a few days with my family and then we will start the process to review what we have done,” he said. “We will have to start making some very important decisions if we want to reach another level.
“We are going to have to show that ambition because we are more than capable of doing it, but it is going to demand us to be very ambitious, very fast and very smart.”
Tonali, with his blend of control, aggression and experience at the highest level, fits that kind of thinking. So he does for De Zerbi at Spurs. So he does for City and United.
Newcastle, though, are under no obligation to play along. With a long contract, a player still in his prime at 26, and several giants hovering, they can set the bar as high as they like.
If someone jumps, Tonali could become the flashpoint of the summer window. If no one does, he remains exactly what Newcastle paid for: a cornerstone of their project, and one of the most valuable Italian footballers in the game.
