Prospect Scouting: Sandro Tonali
Today we'll look at one of my favorite young players - Brescia's Sandro Tonali.
In this prospect scouting report, we’re going take a look at Brescia’s main man, midfielder Sandro Tonali.
In full transparency, I bloody love Tonali as a prospect, and think he’ll be a great player for many years. Here we’ll see why.
Player Profile
Name: Sandro Tonali
Age: 20 (Born 2000)
Position: Central Midfielder
Club: Brescia
Rookie Year: Rookie mini-sticker released 2018-19 season, rookie card and solo sticker 2019/20 season.
About The Player
Tonali is often spoken about as the “next Adrea Pirlo”, and without watching too much of Tonali play, you can see why.
Long shaggy hair
Both starting their career at Brescia
Both born and raised in Brescia
Both have long-range passing
However, I don’t think that description is entirely accurate. Pirlo was absolutely magnificent, but he really only went one way - I wouldn’t be surprised if he thought defense was the tall wooden thing that separated his front yard from the sidewalk. Pirlo was often paired with a defensive-minded tough midfield partner to do a lot of the ugly work while Pirlo could weave his magic.
Or, in less fancy language, Gennaro Gattuso would run around two-foot tackling guys’ knees and they’d be too scared/injured to even look at Pirlo… it was a nice pair.
On a side note, if you want to watch a 10-minute compilation of Gattuso getting angry and wrecking dudes with some techno-music in the background, there’s plenty of worse ways to spend your time.
Unlike Pirlo, Tonali does a lot of the dirty work too, and plays more box-to-box (a box-to-box midfielder is one who plays basically all over the field from his defensive 18-yard-box to the offensive box). So there are some differences between the two players.
The most important thing to know about Sandro Tonali when we look into his stats is that his Brescia side were terrible last season and only won six games. Soccer isn’t like Basketball - you need more than one quality player to make a team. Tonali had a lot of teammates that weren’t up to standard in Serie A. We’ll touch back on Brescia’s poor form when necessary, but it’s important to keep it in mind, especially when looking at his passing numbers.
Watching Sandro Tonali play soccer, you’d list his passing as one of his key skills. However you might not think that by looking at his pass completion numbers. According to fbref, Tonali only completed 27% of his short passes, which is pretty horrendous. However, a lot of that comes from having poor teammates and not a whole lot of options. This is kinda shown with an 84% completion rate for medium-range passes. Honestly, even 84% is still pretty low for a player of Tonali’s quality. I’d expect Tonali’s pass completion numbers to rise when he’s at a better team - more about that later on.
One element of Tonali’s game which is absolutely top class at the moment is his chance creation, especially from set pieces. He was actually 5th last season in total chances created from dead balls across Europe’s top five leagues.
Image source: https://fbref.com/en/comps/Big5/2019-2020/gca/players/2019-2020-Big-5-European-Leagues-Stats
Tonali also has a bit of a dribble on him, and is comfortable taking the ball into space before playing a creating attacking ball to forwards. He shows great balance and has decent decision making too. To do what he does at 20 is incredibly impressive and he should continue to get better.
Like we touched on above though, Tonali isn’t just an attacking player, he has a great work ethic and that carries to the defensive end. In Serie A, Tonali ranked between 20-50 in the following defensive aspects:
Blocks
Tackles in the middle third of the ground
Interceptions
Applying pressure on opponents with the ball and receiving a pass
Winning possession back after applying pressure
Obviously, Brescia required a lot of defending this season, but still - to show that work ethic on a poor team when you’re the main attacking threat, is a great sign.
What’s Next for Sandro Tonali
Tonali is probably the hot prospect in Italian soccer right now. His Brescia side were been relegated, which means that they’ll play in the second division next season.
If you want to know more about that, check the podcast on how leagues work.
What this means for Tonali is that it’s the absolute perfect time for him to move to a bigger club. There’s a few reasons clubs might want to sell their hot young talent after being relegated:
He has just played well in the first division, so is fresh in everyone’s mind
Dropping down to division two will mean a loss in revenue, so selling players can help with that
A sales fee can be re-invested into multiple players in the squad
A year in the second division will probably hinder the player’s value - especially if he isn’t dominant in the second division
Basically, it’s a great time to cash out and re-invest. With that, it’s highly likely that Tonali will make his way to a bigger club this off-season. Actually, by the time you read this, he may well have already moved clubs!
The two big Milan clubs, AC Milan and Inter Milan, are both battling to bring him in for next season. I think either move will be great for him. AC Milan are heading towards a Dortmund-style transfer policy the last few years, although the club might have to adjust formation a little to bring him in as they already have two starting-level central midfielders. Inter Milan would also be a great move for Tonali as they’re certainly a club on the rise. Inter are also somewhat in the Lionel Messi sweepstakes so if they land him, the club will obviously be looking to challenge Juventus for the title.
My prediction would be a move to Inter, and I think that’s the best move for him going forward too.
Sandro Tonali For Collectors
Tonali is a center-mid, which usually means his cards will be less valuable than attacking players. However, a lot of Sandro Tonali’s value going forward will depend on a few things that impact every young player:
Where his next move is
What position he plays
The future of soccer collecting
Now, as far as what his next move is - Tonali looks pretty set. Inter and AC Milan are two great clubs on the way up (or back up, in AC Milan’s case) and both could use a player of his quality. As mentioned earlier, at the time of writing, Inter are in the Messi sweepstakes, and if they happen to land the goat, all players will be in the public eye more than ever (on a side note, might be a good time to buy some Lukaku World Cup Prizm just in case!). Regardless, either club is a lot bigger than Brescia and if he starts will there, he’ll certainly raise in value.
Tonali is also interesting as he can play anywhere centrally in the midfield. As we looked at earlier, Tonali is incorrectly type-cast as a Pirlo-type, which would pigeonhole him into a position, however Tonali has a little more to his game and could play further up the field. I could easily see him putting more assists and goals on the board if given that responsibility.
With that as well, at the moment, soccer card collecting and investing is still somewhat raw as a market. So far it’s goals and assists that dictate a player’s price. However, if that changes and better players who don’t contribute to the scoreboard still become valuable cards, Tonali will again see his value go up - as I have said a few times here, I think he’s going to be an absolute star!
Tonali’s rookie cards are from the 19-20 season and you can find them on eBay here. He also has a rookie sticker from the 18-19 season, but it’s a mini-sticker with three different players on it. I don’t particularly love that product as a rookie item, I’d much rather one with just that one player on it. However, that market may change, so you can find those here.
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