Manchester United closing in Sandro Tonali | OneFootball

Manchester United have made significant progress over a move for Atalanta’s Ederson but are also closing in on Sandro Tonali.

Ederson is likely to add technical spark to the club’s midfield, with Casemiro and even Manuel Ugarte on his way out.

Tuttomercatoweb’s Niccolo Ceccarini has reported that a deal for the Brazilian is almost complete, with the player set to bid farewell to La Dea soon enough. But Manchester United aren’t stopping there and are close to reaching an agreement with Newcastle United for Tonali too.

While there is no mention of the fee, the journalist is quite confident that the Italian’s next destination is Old Trafford. 

Juventus have been previously interested but they’ve never had the financial muscle to bring Tonali back to Italy.

Tonali will be the Casemiro replacement

Profile-wise, Tonali is much more similar to Casemiro than Ederson is to his compatriot. Even if the Italian has operated further forward at Newcastle United and also at AC Milan, specifically scoring key goals during their Scudetto win, he has now settled into a deeper role.

This doesn’t mean that he can’t play as an eight. His physical traits have only grown in England, making him someone who is very reliable in a box-to-box role too. A lot of times for the Azzurri too, he has played in a more advanced role, coming up with goals for them too.

All in all, Tonali’s addition will be another way of raising the technical level of the United midfield. He is much better than Casemiro at holding onto the ball, receiving it right and this will put him in good stead under Michael Carrick.

Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN