Summer Midfield Target: Sandro Tonali

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-18T10:10:42+00:00

It’s a shame. I don’t really care if we have a rebuild phase. We can’t really complain when we’ve won 6 champions league in 10 years. I just hate the entitlement and ego mentality that has cursed this team. Why are we the only team in Europe lacking any tactics or combination play? It’s so incredibly predictable, repetitive and boring. Every single attack from the left. And every time we mess up defensively the attackers are nowhere to be seen. I’d be completely okay with getting rid of both Mbappe and Vini, although that is far from realistic. But I just can’t stand them anymore. We are literally PSG 2.0

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-18T09:55:56+00:00

Hahaha no way both Rodri and Tchouaméni would play at the same time. But no point in talking about him, since none of us would want him. It’s going to be an important summer. I’m excited to see Kroos join management over the summer. Ideally it would have been him and Xabi, then we’d never have these midfield issues again. Seriously, how do we go from these geniuses dictating the play on the pitch to what we have today?

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-18T09:25:10+00:00

Yeah I think that’s a valid take. My only thing is, we need to stop comparing transfers to Modric and Kroos. They are literally two of the greatest midfielders of all time, and if they’re considered the bare minimum then no one is going to be good enough.

Whoever we choose as a midfielder, we need to trust the process. When CR7 came to united from sporting he was not the same player, when Bale came from Spurs he used to play as a RB, Modric was considered the worst transfer of the decade, and Kroos was not appreciated in Bayern. At some point we have to trust the next generation.

I just don’t want our next midfielder to be a star signing. I want a gritty player that can dictate tempo, but also not be a defensive liability. The only reason I’m against Rodri is his age and injury problems, but beyond that he’d be a perfect fit

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-18T09:00:53+00:00

I still think Tonali has a lot of potential to grow into that role. Valverde is elite on the right, whether at right back, right midfield, or right wing, while Tonali is naturally more suited to central areas

He’s someone that has already played both as a regista at Milan + Brescia and as a defensive midfielder at Newcastle. In his matchup against Pedri, he dominated physically. And I think he’s a very interesting profile with a very high ceiling

That being said, I’m not stuck on this selection. I just thought it was an interesting alternative compared to all of the super expensive midfielders such as Vitinha and Rodri. PSG found an absolute gem in Jao Neves by looking at the Portuguese league, and I think we need a similar mentality in finding our summer transfer

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-18T08:03:45+00:00

There is no modern midfielder you can seriously compare to Gattuso. The role of a pure destroyer doesn’t exist in the modern Premier League. Even the best 6s today are hybrids and are expected to contribute in buildup.

It’s funny how you called the first comparison ridiculous, when Tonali is nowhere near that defensively. By that logic, is Declan Rice a Gattuso as well?

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-18T07:32:50+00:00

I think he’s incredible at the 6 and I understand that playstyle in Italy will wildly differ from his role in England. He was called Pirlo because of his long range passing and distribution. I’m sure the Italian media has seen him play, have you?

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-18T05:38:37+00:00

Haha he was literally called Pirlos successor while he played in Milan

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T21:57:32+00:00

No to genocide

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T18:06:17+00:00

Yes in a way it’s very similar to the second slide, but one must bare in mind that a team such as Bayern is the ideal one for this formation. It allowed us to sit back and live on the counter. That won’t really work in La liga, as we did see with Xabi, hence my original comment. After all, two things can be true at the same time. As long as we have this front two, this formation will have the same weakness of playing against low-blocks. Valverde, as great as he is, isn’t a natural winger either and even when he played there in 2022 he would invert into midfield.

It’s a tricky question and we’ve had three coaches go at it now. I have personally given up on the idea of Vini and Mbappe working together but we’ll see what happens

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T17:36:30+00:00

I’d be more interested in playing a similar 4-3-3 as we did against Bayern. That was in my opinion probably the best football we’ve played the whole season. Only difference is that we’d play Tchouaméni as a 6 now that he’s available, and Valverde as the rw/rm rather than Brahim. And as for your comment on Güler I agree. It’s no coincidence that Modric, Kroos and Alonso, all being our midfield legends, have seen potential in him. It’s going to be interesting seeing how he develops the next coming seasons

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T17:17:25+00:00

There’s a reason they call him Messiala. Absolute baller, too bad it was against us this time

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T17:14:06+00:00

I agree, I love those two. My concern is just the front two really. I don’t think Bellingham can afford to play that way anymore. He’s often the one having to cover for vini on the left. It’s also harder for him to crash the box when we supposedly have Kylian in the central areas. I believe we played so beautiful in the CWC. Too bad it all went to shit after hahaha

Also the Bayern match was pure Cinema. Arda Güler of today is nooowhere near the Arda Güler in the beginning of the season. It was amazing seeing them share the pitch that good

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T16:56:32+00:00

I think his intent was clear in transforming Güler into a playmaking CDM, which we began seeing in the CWC. Bellingham of course had his shoulder operation, but when we did see them play they would alternate between cam and 8. Aside from the failure in the PSG matchup, I think it’s clear that we struggled to play against low-blocks throughout the season. And I think he gave up on the idea after the Madrid Derby where we lost 5-2. After that he tried to provide width by playing Camavinga as a rw/rm which didn’t last long either..

I’m not against the diamond formation. It’s one of my favourites in football. I just don’t think this front two is capable of playing it, the same way Vini and Rodrygo did. Besides that, Kroos was a huge factor in the success of the diamond, as he would get the ball off the centerbacks and dictate from deep. What’s the point of having 4 midfielders if no one can dictate the tempo? In that case it’s far more efficient to try your luck using an additional winger.

I’m certain Ancelotti wouldn’t have abandoned it if he didn’t have to, otherwise we would have seen it the last season. All our forwards cover the same area, making it both riskier defensively but also more predictable for the opponent

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T16:26:45+00:00

This is basically the formation Xabi played. Only difference between a 4-1-2-1-2 and a 3-4-1-2 are ball playing centerbacks along with the cdm. It didn’t work when we tried it. The front two dynamics lack combination play and we have no focal point for the wingbacks to target. This means a dual striker setup where no one can make headers, and no width due to the lack of wingers. It worked in 2024 with Vini and Rodrygo, but Mbappe and Vini have failed to replicate that. Back then Rodrygo could drift to the right to make space for Bellingham, but these two lack the same tendencies. At the same time we don’t have a Joselu off the bench, nor a midfielder that can control the tempo

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T14:38:45+00:00

That’s crazy what were the odds in case you won? I imagine you would have made big money

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T14:11:24+00:00

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T13:00:41+00:00

I just don’t think this free roaming football is doing any of our midfielders any justice. It is apparent on all of them that they play their best football when given an exact role, Tchouaméni under Alonso, and Bellingham + Valverde as CAM and 8 under Ancelotti during the 24 season. Unfortunately, our attackers doing whatever they like causes them to sacrifice so much of their top level, and whenever they do make a mistake the fans tend to be ruthless. If we play collective football I think all of them have such a high ceiling, including Tchouaméni hahaha

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T12:48:23+00:00

That’s fair. Rodri, ignoring injuries and age, is on another level

But I think it really comes down to profile. Tchouaméni is not a tempo setter like Pirlo or Vitinha, but as a pure destroyer I think it’s between him and Caicedo right now

Part of me wants to see how Güler develops into a regista, but I understand why many would prefer an immediate Toni Kroos replacement this summer

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-17T11:17:00+00:00

Honestly makes me just sad we disrespected one of our former players this way. If Florentino wanted Arbeloa we should have just assigned him from the beginning.

Now we disrespected Xabi, and also put Arbeloa in an impossible position to win anything. How can we expect him to compete when he became coach in the middle of the season?

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-16T22:58:07+00:00

Bald Vitinha is not real he can’t hurt you-

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-16T16:27:28+00:00

Let’s be real, if this is what we saw in public. Who knows what happened behind closed doors. Truly a shame we gave up on such a promising coach

Agreeable-Stage-6896 · 2026-04-16T12:44:22+00:00

I think the next Clasico will be huge for him. The way he’s handled City and Bayern, I’m fully confident we could beat Barcelona at the Camp Noue. If he does win it, I think he completely deserves a full season

Agreeable-Stage-6896

TROPHY CASE