Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali has been the subject of chatter at AC Milan in recent days.
The club’s owner Gerry Cardinale, in a chat with Harvard, mentioned how Tonali’s sale to Newcastle United in the summer of 2023 was seen as a financial decision. Their risk-return assessment saw the exit of the Italian.
Those comments don’t seem to have gone down well in Italy. Journalist Giuseppe Pastore spoke to Cronache di Spogliatoio’s Youtube channel about what Cardinale had spoken of during his interview and accused him of showing coldness towards Tonali.
Pastore said, as relayed by PianetaMilan: “Then Cardinale spoke about the reasons why he sold Tonali. I was struck by the coldness with which he referred – he was not only targeting an asset, but a possible captain.
Speaking further, the journalist said: “Dismissing it as an opportunity once again underlines the coldness. There should be more flexibility in understanding that Italian football is not the periphery of the American empire.”
Tonali has played 15 times in all competitions this season and recently grabbed a brace in the Carabao Cup against Brentford. It is a good indication of how he is starting to show his true colours and is growing into the Magpies first team.
More game time under Eddie Howe can help the Italian establish himself as a key player for the side and he could thereby become a candidate for club captaincy in the future.