De Zerbi insists Tonali is a ‘complete midfielder’ | OneFootball

Roberto De Zerbi insisted that Sandro Tonali is “a complete midfielder”, despite the Italian struggling to make an impact for Spurs so far.

The Italian joined Spurs for £92.5 million plus add-ons in the summer from Newcastle United, becoming Spurs’ most expensive ever player.

The Italian missed Tottenham’s loss to Liverpool in the EFL Cup through injury, but De Zerbi confirmed that he would be back for the match against Aston Villa on Saturday.

With the big price tag often comes pressure, De Zerbi was asked if the midfielder is feeling any of that pressure at the moment.

“No, he doesn’t feel the pressure,” he answered. “He’s a good guy, he’s working very hard and I’m happy to have Sandro. 

“We are lucky to have Sandro with us. The adaptation has not been so fast, but that can happen. In his first season at Milan he was younger, but it’s not so easy to change the city, to change everything for the players. 

“Sometimes it’s easy immediately; the adaptation is immediate, and sometimes you need more time, but I think Tonali played well against Everton. 

“The city, the club, the style of play, everything. He can play in both situations, because his physical characteristics are to play box-to-box, but he started his career as a playmaker. 

“He’s good enough with the ball, he’s good enough without the ball. He’s a complete midfielder, like Lucas Bergvall, like Mateus Fernandes.”

De Zerbi plays an attacking style of play, focusing on playing out from the back. With Spurs without a win so far in the Premier League, the Italian was asked whether he plans to change his plan.

“Sometimes you have to change everything,” he said. “Sometimes you have to improve what you already are doing, but sometimes you have to stay calm. 

“I think we are working to improve what we have to do better, but also we have to stay calm because I know if and but are not the right words. But now we have two points on the table and for the performances we have done, I think we could have more than two points.”