Brescia owner Massimo Cellino has confirmed that Sandro Tonali is wanted by Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, but he expects the highly-rated 20-year-old to snub switches outside his homeland in favor of linking with either Juventus or Inter.
For some time now, one of the hottest prospects of European football has created rumors of a big-money transfer. Leading sides across the globe have noticed his talent, with Liverpool among those known to be keen to take him to the Premier League.
PSG boasts the financial muscle to contend with every side on the planet and was keen to add Tonali alongside his Italian fellow Marco Verratti to its midfield team. Barca has also discussed the possibility of adding another tool for ball-playing to their engine room.
However, Cellino believes that Tonali would disregard the interest shown in him from Parc des Princes and Camp Nou while he is waiting for a suitable offer from Milan or Turin to be tabled.
The mysterious president of Brescia said to Corriere Dello Sport: “[PSG president] Nasser [Al-Khelaifi] wants him in Paris, he wrote to me today, but Tonali doesn’t want to go to France. Destinations he likes are Inter and Juve. [Napoli president Aurelio] I was offered 40 million by De Laurentiis, Fiorentina wants him too, but his fate is pretty much written down. Before COVID had bid 65 million-plus two very interesting young players in Barcelona, one was a full-back. I think the Catalans got the response that they didn’t like and not Tonali did.”
Although Brescia, who is sitting at the bottom of Serie A before the restart of the campaign in Italy in 2019-20, is resigned to the fact that Tonali will soon be leaving for new pastures, they are also planning to part with Mario Balotelli.
Cellino finds the mercurial 29-year-old, who in recent years has failed to settle anywhere, to be a lost cause, adding: “I tried it, Mario did the rest.
Brescia, the return to the national team, family, his wife, sisters, friends, I thought there were all the conditions. We can do nothing more.
