MANCHESTER UNITED sent scouts to watch Brescia’s teenage midfielder Sandro Tonali again last week.
The Italian – dubbed the new Andrea Pirlo in his homeland for both his playing and hair styles – is catching the eye of a number of top-class European sides with his performances from midfield.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has received glowing reports and their Italian spies watched him play the full 90 minutes in last Monday’s goalless draw with Fiorentina.
The Red Devils are in the market for creative young talent and there is a feeling Tonali could be one worth paying out big bucks for to steal a march on some of their rivals.
An Old Trafford source told SunSport: “We have known about Tonali for 18 months but our Italian scouts say he has gone to the next level and United need to get involved – he could be a generational talent.”
Tonali, 19, broke into the Brescia first team in the 2017/18 season and played a pivotal role last season in his side’s promotion to Serie A.
He regularly plays in a deep-lying playmaker role in the centre of midfield and is the player that will often get the ball moving, starting attacks with his range of passing.
But he has also proven he has an eye for goal, netting six times in his 61 professional league games, and is not afraid to put himself about to regain possession.
The youngster is already a full Italy international, coming off the bench to replace Federico Bernadeschi against Liechtenstein in the Euro 2020 qualifier earlier this month.
It is no wonder, therefore, that Manchester United are desperate not to miss out on the highly-rated youngster.
They are already playing catch-up to Inter Milan and Manchester City, with both clubs making their interest in the midfielder clear earlier this year.
And Inter will get another good look at him tonight as the two sides meet in Serie A.
Brescia are well aware of the heavy interest in their young prodigy and a fee of around 40million had been touted.
But the club’s president Massimo Cellino is desperate to do all he can to keep hold of his talented star – putting a mammoth 260m price tag on him and offering him a bumper new deal.
Discussing the clubs interested in Tonali, Cellino said: “All the big Italian clubs, and abroad Atletico Madrid, PSG and Manchester City.
“But in my view, hed be better off remaining with Brescia. The other day, his agent and his parents were telling me about this 50m evaluation. I replied that for me he is worth 300m, which means I dont want to sell.
“I have a dream. If Sandro accepts, I am ready to make a big financial sacrifice to extend his contract.
“Its up to him to decide. He can stay here and enjoy his football, or go to a big club and risk being left on the bench.”
