Jurgen Klopp is reportedly a big fan of Brescia’s Serie A starlet Sandro Tonali – is he heading to the Premier League with Liverpool?
For any young Italian, being compared to Andrea Pirlo is about as good as it can get.
But Sandro Tonali is a man with a mind of his own. For him, that ‘new Pirlo’ tag is not an accurate reflection of the talent and the skillset which has the Brescia talisman on the radar of some of Europe’s biggest clubs. And if there’s one thing this midfield maestro knows all about, it’s accuracy.
“(The comparison with Italy’s 2006 World Cup winner) are because of the hair!” Tonali told Corriere dello Sera, his long locks flowing in the breeze like Pirlo in his prime.
“It is not a suitable comparison for me.”
The 19-year-old who has stood head and shoulders above his Brescia team-mates, including prodigal son Mario Balottelli, during a testing Serie A campaign. He is more Gennaro Gattuso than Andrea Pirlo; an energetic, box-to-box dynamo who loves a crunching tackle as much as a defence-splitting pass.
Tonali’s sublime passing range means he might one day have a future as the beating heart of the Italian national team, controlling the tempo and orchestrating the play like the latter-day Pirlo. But, for now, he obviously feels he has more to offer in the final third.
“Gennaro Gattuso was my idol. [But] out of the players today I am inspired [most] by Luka Modric,” Tonali says. It shows too. Only five central midfielders have produced more assists than him (5) during the current Serie A campaign.
According to Alfredo Pedulla, Jurgen Klopp is a big fan of this £45 million wonderkid and would love for Liverpool to beat Manchester City and PSG to his sought-after signature in the summer.
But if anyone at Anfield thinks their getting the new Pirlo, they may be mistaken. Less ‘Pirlo’s heir’, more Pirlo’s hair.
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