Sandro Tonali has been making headlines this past week.
Over in Italy, Gazzetta dello Sport claiming that the Italy international is desperate to return to AC Milan, or indeed any Serie A club.
The journalist in question who wrote the piece, even saying that Newcastle United could loan Sandro Tonali to an Italian club in January.
Quite how anybody believes this sort of contrived nonsense with absolutely no substance behind it, baffles me.
Just because this feeble claim is then blindly repeated by unscrupulous other media in Italy and the UK, doesn’t make it any more believable.
Giuseppe Riso, who is the agent of Sandro Tonali, made clear how pathetic the Italian journalist was, stating ‘Sandro is absolutely not considering to return in Serie A. He is happy at Newcastle United.’
Now Eddie Howe has made clear how laughable the Italian media ‘exclusive’ was.
Eddie Howe on the Italian media Sandro Tonali claims – 13 December 2024:
“It is not in our plans to do without Sandro.
“These are rumours that make me laugh.
“Sandro is a vital part of what we are doing.
“We have made a long-term investment in him and personally, I am really happy with him, we have built a solid relationship.”
Tonali Joelinton Bruno Guimaraes Newcastle United 3rd Kit Launch
The Mag report – 12 December 2024:
On Wednesday, we reported (see below) on a Gazzetta dello Sport journalist, who said that Sandro Tonali wanted to return to Serie A and was looking for a move next month away from Newcastle United.
My reaction was that this was a shameless piece of ‘reporting’, with absolutely nothing to back it up, the shameless journalist not even claiming he had any sources giving him supposedly informed insider guidance.
The whole pathetic article just aimed at trying to stir things up, with the Italian media still grieving for the fact that one of the very best young Italian homegrown stars, had chosen Newcastle United over AC Milan and Serie A.
The lame claims based sole on how much/little Sandro Tonali had played since almost a year out of competitive football.
Of the 16 Newcastle United matches that Sandro Tonali had been available for this season, the midfielder playing in 15 of them (starting eight times and off the bench seven times), the only exception the cup win over League Two AFC Wimbledon.
The shameful claims from the Italian journalist totally contradicted everything Sandro Tonali has actually said, how committed he is to Newcastle United and how grateful to the club and fans, how much he wants to repay them for the support shown to him.
Of course, the media, both in Italy and in the UK, is so much in the gutter these days, that journalist’s totally unsubstantiated claims, were naturally repeated everywhere else, turned into something that was pretty much claiming it to be ‘fact’, that Sandro Tonali wants to leave Newcastle United. Despite not a single piece of evidence.
Which in turn then means the Newcastle United fans who aren’t capable of thinking for themselves, wanting to believe no smoke without fire, despite all of us knowing how untrustworthy the media are these days, with rare exceptions.
Anyway, an update on Thursday via Fabrizio Romano, quoting Sandro Tonali’s agent….
Fabrizio Romano quoting Giuseppe Riso, who is the agent of Sandro Tonali – 12 December 2024:
“Sandro is absolutely not considering to return in Serie A.
“He is happy at Newcastle United.
“Happy to play in the best league in the world and he is an idol for Newcastle United fans, who have always supported Sandro in every moment”.
Sandro Tonali Newcastle United
Report on The Mag regarding those embarrassing Italian media claims on Sandro Tonali – 11 December 2024:
Absolutely embarrassing media claims from the Italian media regarding Sandro Tonali.
Gazzetta dello Sport running a story claiming the midfielder could return to Serie A in January 2025.
It is simply laughable.
There is absolutely no credible reason given as to why they are claiming this, no stated sources or whatever.
A story seemingly only written/based on the number of Premier League matches Sandro Tonali has and hasn’t played sinced his near year-long suspension ended.
Sandro Tonali has actually played in all 13 Premier League matches he has been available for, starting six and off the bench in the other seven. Plus he started against both Forest and Chelsea in the League Cup.
Eddie Howe has an established history of looking after players when they arrive at Newcastle United, Bruno Guimaraes was looked after and had to wait over six weeks for his first Newcastle start, some ten weeks before he started a match at St James’ Park.
Sandro Tonali effectively like a new player for NUFC and especially having had no competitive football for almost a year.
Ironically, the story in Gazzetta dello Sport makes a big thing of the comparison of Sandro Tonali starting all six games for Italy since his ban ended. Ironic because I bet my bottom dollar that part of Eddie Howe’s reasoning for not giving Sandro Tonali more minutes/starts has been due to the midfielder used so much by Italy in a short space of time since his playing return.
AC Milan and indeed the whole of Italian football, especially the media, were left devastated and their pride hurt, when one of the very best young Italy players left Serie A for Newcastle United.
All of the other Italian media have of course seized on these claims greedily, desperate to want to believe Sandro Tonali wants to return ‘home’ from Newcastle.
The journalist in question claims Sandro Tonali is ‘increasingly marginal’ at Newcastle United.
It is laughable when only a week ago, Sandro Tonali put in his best performance, as did NUFC, of the season against Liverpool. Bruno allowed to play further forward due to Tonali’s deeper role and getting two assists and playing a key role in the other goal.
Sandro Tonali would have started at Brentford as well, if not for Eddie Howe making clear that both he and Anthony Gordon were left out due to their physical condition after giving so much in the Liverpool match.
What makes the Italian media claims especially desperate is that they admit no Italian club could afford to buy Sandro Tonali. So they claim it could/would be a loan in January to a Serie A club, yet also admit that no Italian club could match the wages Newcastle are paying Tonali.
Eddie Howe has such a small squad, especially when it comes to players of real quality, the idea of he and Newcastle United allowing Sandro Tonali to leave in January (not that there is a single bit of evidence suggesting the payer even wants that to happen) is beyond belief.