Sandro Tonali has revealed the "huge role" Roberto De Zerbi had in his impending £100m move to Tottenham from Newcastle.
The midfielder was keen to work under fellow Italian De Zerbi despite interest from elsewhere, including Manchester City.
The big-money move will be a club-record signing for Tottenham, and the Italy international was spotted at a Milan airport on Thursday as he flew to London to undergo a medical and complete his deal.
As he did so, he spoke to Sky in Italy and gave an insight into how the deal had been struck.
Tonali said: "De Zerbi played a huge role in this decision... I don't give him all the credit, but he deserves a lot.
"It was also a lifestyle and family choice. We had been in Newcastle for three years and last year our lives changed - our son was born, so we decided to completely change our lives.
"De Zerbi made a huge difference [at Tottenham]. He did his job, he did it very well and he was very talented so I think a lot of the credit goes to him.
"But having said that, he did it not only as a Brescia native and a friend, but he did it by truly demonstrating that he has a lot of work behind him and he's committed to it."
Tonali leaves Newcastle after three years, and is another big name to depart the club this summer after Anthony Gordon's move to Barcelona. It will be the club's second-biggest sale, behind the £125m Liverpool paid for Alexander Isak.
It is understood that the club believe they are getting a strong fee for Tonali and believe they are very likely to achieve the full £100m. The feeling is that this will allow the club to strengthen in more than one position with high-potential players.
Tonali told Sky in Italy that he wanted the best possible deal for the Magpies, saying: "The feelings are positive. It was a bit long, it was difficult. We had an agreement with Newcastle and we parted on very good terms, we talked about it every day.
"They wanted the best for me and we wanted to do the best [deal] for Newcastle, so once you leave like this, it's different. We're all happy and I'm ready for this new adventure."
When asked about what he is expecting at Tottenham, Tonali added: "We're definitely going step-by-step. First, getting there, getting the medical examinations, signing, and then we have to take everything slowly, starting with the [pre-season] training camp, which won't be easy.
"The World Cup is going on now, so the team will be put together in a month or so. The start will not be easy, especially since they're coming off two difficult seasons. We'll try to make sure everything is new and everything is positive."
Your Site' Paul Merson on Spurs' summer business:
"Tonali is a very good signing, he is one of my favourite players in the Premier League, he is a proper, proper midfielder.
"Whenever I've watched Tottenham, I always think they are a bit overrun in midfield, they do not ever dominate games.
"They've got good centre halves and forwards when they are all fit, but they never dominate the midfield and the manager [Roberto De Zerbi] has come in and highlighted that and he has brought in two very good midfield players.
"I expect them to have a good season next year and I wonder if that Aston Villa performance against Tottenham at the end of last season will come back and bite them when they got well beaten and could have probably relegated them - that could come back to bite them when we are looking at fourth or fifth in the league next year for Champions League positions.
"But he [De Zerbi] has bought very well at the moment."
Andy Robertson - Liverpool, free
Marcos Senesi - Bournemouth, free
Martin Dubravka - Burnley, free
Jan Paul Van Hecke - Brighton, £52m
Mateus Fernandes - West Ham, £85m
Sandro Tonali - Newcastle, £100m*
* Deal agreed, but transfers subject to completion
Total transfer spend so far: £237m*
Analysis from Your Site News reporter Michael Bridge:
The big change has been the will of the leadership to spend on transfer fees and wages to compete with the top teams. After narrowly missing out on relegation, the message was 'never again'.
Spurs have qualified for European football in 17 years out of 20. They've had the lowest wages-to-turnover ratio in the league over the last few years.
They've invested well in the local area in terms of land, building the best stadium. That stadium is arguably one of the best in the world, and it is generating unbelievable revenue.
The criticism in the past from Spurs fans was that they weren't seeing that money being spent on the pitch.
The promise of the Lewis family, Vinai Venkatesham and Peter Charrington is that they will be doing this going forward and using the revenue from things like the stadium to improve the first team. That will be a big boost in terms of their spending.
There will also be sales this summer, which will be required just in terms of creating space in the squad for all these new signings and the fact there will be fewer games to contend with after dropping out of Europe.
If you look at the players that could go – Lucas Bergvall, Luka Vuskovic, Cristian Romero, Pape Matar Sarr, Richarlison – that could raise a lot of money for Spurs.
The Lewis family injected £100m into the club this summer – and that takes them up to £200m since 2025 – but that was for the day-to-day running of the club rather than for transfer spending.
