It’s always risky when a player gets likened to a former great. There are so few examples of someone labeled “the next x” actually turning into a top quality player.
Sandro Tonali has been gaining a lot of attention for his performances but also his looks in Italy over the past few years. He does look a bit like Andrea Pirlo and also started out at Brescia, but it seems that’s were the similarities end.
A recent report from Football Italia has reported on some comments made by Tonali about the interest being shown in him and those comparisons to Pirlo.
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It seems that he sees himself as a more technical version of Gennaro Gattuso rather than Pirlo. Pirlo was famed for controlling the game and playing with a lovely, elegant style, but it seems that the current Brescia man has a bit more aggression to his game.
He also insisted he wasn’t scared by the €300m price tag placed on him by the Brescia owner. It’s obvious that he will move at some point soon, but the story suggests he wants to stay until the end of the season at least to ensure Brescia stay in Serie A.
It will be interesting to see how much he’s worth – obviously he won’t actually be sold for anywhere near €300m, but he’s certainly a huge talent.
Brescia may hope he manages to play himself into the Italy squad for Euro 2020. If he could perform on the biggest international stage then that would only help to increase that price tag.