The £55million star played two long stints for Italy in their World Cup qualification programme this week
Sandro Tonali lies injured against Israel
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Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe was set to run the rule over Sandro Tonali's fitness levels ahead of the trip to Brighton & Hove Albion tomorrow.
The Magpies fly to the South Coast today and the head coach was set to hold a roll call in training as preparations for the encounter with the Seagulls continue. Tonali has been putting his body on the line for Italy as they battle for a place at next summer's World Cup finals.
Italy squeezed two games out of Tonali against Israel and Estonia over the international break with some sections of the Italian media claiming the ex-AC Milan star looked "tired". After going down with a knock against Israel in a 3-0 win to keep Italy on course for the World Cup play-offs, Tonali continued.
He returned to Tyneside on Friday to take part in the last training session before the clash against Brighton at the Amex Stadium. Howe said today: "Yeah, he comes back today. So we'll see him today for the first time. But yeah, fingers crossed he's fine."
Howe's midfield could be hard to call given that Bruno and Joelinton were rested after September's international fixtures for the 0-0 draw at Bournemouth. Late checks on Tonali, Bruno and Joelinton could well result in a tweak or two with Jacob Ramsey and Joe Willock standing by for a piece of the action.
Lewis Miley could also be in the frame. The youngster was himself pulled out of international duty with England U19s but the was just a precautionary measure.
Howe said: "Yeah, I think it's always difficult, especially if you look at the length of journeys that they've had in this international window, especially poor Joe, who had to turn around and start his journey again, unfortunately.
"But we'll make an assessment on how they look physically and how they trained today, and then make the decision on the team."
Tonal has been one of Newcastle's most used players this season and has starred in 786 minutes so far.
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