“Barcelona offered €65m and two players for Tonali” – Brescia president

By Agency Reporter On Jun 2, 2020 0

Sandro Tonali is one of the most in demand players in Europe still at a smaller club, but it doesn’t sound like he will be there much longer.

Massimo Cellino, the controversial former Leeds owner, is now in charge of Brescia, and clearly misses the limelight a little. Perhaps a little worryingly he also has Tonali’s future in his hands now, and his words today quoted by Mundo Deportivo, show that the interest in the midfielder is getting extremely serious:

“Barcelona put €65m on the table with two very interesting players valued at €7.5m each, one of them a defender,” Cellino teased, without revealing more details – apart from the obvious fact that the bid was turned down.

This was before the coronavirus crisis, and things will have changed drastically at both ends of the deal since then. But the fact that the Catalans were so interested then likely means they will be continuing to keep an eye on the talent now, no matter their current economic situation.

They face serious competition in Italy though, with that same MD article claiming Inter and Juve are very interested in the young Italian gem. Barca may yet regret not having tied up this deal the first time around – although dealing with Cellino is nobody’s idea of a good time.