Tottenham Hotspur fans will not be too encouraged by the reviews of Sandro Tonali’s performance in Italy’s Nations League clash against Belgium.The 26-year-old became the Lilywhites’ record signing in the summer, as Roberto De Zerbi broke the £100m barrier to bring him through the door.Tonali has not hit the ground running in North London as Spurs fans hoped for, and the Lilywhites have been accused of overpaying for the midfielder.The club’s former scout Bryan King said earlier this month: “I mean, look at the two main players that left Newcastle, Guimaraes and Tonali. Tonali cost £25m more than what Guimaraes did, and for me, Tonali isn’t the player that Guimaraes is. Guimaraes was the heart of Newcastle; Tonali wasn’t.“I just think if you’d have signed Guimaraes and gone for him, I don’t think Arsenal would have gone for Tonali, that’s for sure. It just seems desperate. ‘Let’s appease the supporters by showing that we’re going to buy these players, we’re going to spend the money’.”S. TonaliTottenham – Premier League (2026 – 2027)Appearances5Average Rating7.01Goals0Assists0Key Passes4Pass Accuracy (%)89.00Tackles11Duels Won20Stats correct as of 27 September 2026.Credit: @thatfootballphotog / InstagramTottenham star Sandro Tonali criticised for his performance against BelgiumItaly began their Nations League campaign with a 2-0 loss at home to Belgium, and the Tottenham man has come in for plenty of criticism following the defeat.FotMob gave Sandro Tonali a performance rating of 6.5, which is certainly not terrible, considering he was on the losing side, but the Italian press have not been as kind to the former Newcastle man.Sky Sports Italy graded Tonali a 5/10 and wrote: “He enters, body and soul, in the full confusion of the blue team. He goes haywire together with the midfield in the first half dominated by Belgium. He is not among the best when Italy gives signs of awakening in the second half.”Corriere dello Sport also gave the Spurs man a 5/10 rating, writing: “He makes wood, more than finishing and brushing,” which suggests he doesn’t do much with the ball.Tuttosport were the most scathing in their assessment of Tonali, giving him a 5.5 and writing: “As a midfielder, he looks like a fish out of water: many technical errors for a player of his level.”Roberto De Zerbi has full faith in Tonali to come good at SpursIt is well documented that De Zerbi was the one who pushed to bring Tonali through the door. In fact, the Tottenham boss has revealed he called Tonali 24 hours after Spurs’ final game of the season.The 46-year-old said back in July: “When we won the last match with Everton, the day after the game at 4 pm I sent a message to Sandro. ‘Sandro, I want to speak with you’. After 10 minutes, we spoke, and after two days, I went back to Italy, and we met in his home.”The Spurs head remains confident that Tonali will come good despite the midfielder’s indifferent start to his time at N17.De Zerbi said last week about Tottenham’s record signing: “He’s a good guy, he’s working very hard, and I’m happy to have Sandro. We are lucky to have Sandro with us. The adaptation has not been so fast but it can happen; also in Milan in the first season, ok he was younger, but it is not so easy to change city, to change everything for the players. Sometimes the adaptation is immediate, sometimes you need more time.”READ MORE: Tottenham have bought ‘pink shoes, brown trousers, a yellow shirt and an orange tie’, says Tony PulisThe post Tottenham star dubbed 'fish out of water' after latest international display appeared first on Spurs Web.