Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali has returned to the club following international duty with Italy.
Tonali had also suffered a knock during Newcastle’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest before the international break but was able to start Italy’s two wins over Estonia and Israel during the break.
But against the latter, the 25-year-old midfielder went down and received treatment before getting back to his feet and completing the majority of the game.
Following the Italy match on Tuesday, Tonali was given until Friday to return to Newcastle training ahead of the trip to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
Although Tonali has started all but one of Newcastle’s matches this season, he will have trained just once with the team in the past fortnight, suffering two knocks in the process. Tonali suffered a blow to his leg against Forest but was able to complete the match and was spotted holding his thigh for Italy but again managed to play on.
But heading into a busy fixture period and with Jacob Ramsey back in contention to add to Newcastle’s midfield options, Tonali will have to be managed carefully given his importance to Eddie Howe’s side.
Ahead of seeing Tonali on Friday, Howe played down the midfielder’s recent knock, stating: “We'll see him today for the first time. But yeah, fingers crossed he's fine.”
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Sandro Tonali ‘tired’ on international duty
Assessing Tonali’s performance against Israel on Tuesday, Football Italia wrote the midfielder looked ‘tired’, handing him a 6/10 rating.
Football Italia wrote: “The Newcastle star, one of the best Italy players under Gattuso, wasn’t as sharp as usual. Surely a bit tired, having already made 13 appearances this season.”
Sandro Tonali on Newcastle United future
During the international break, Tonali told Vivo Azzurro about a potential return to Italy: "You can never know what will happen, I tell everyone it's possible.
"I'm not closing the door on Italy; it's my country. Maybe not now because I've found my balance at Newcastle, but the league is getting better and better, the level of the teams is rising."
But when speaking about life at Newcastle in a recent video published by the club, Tonali said: “This is life. This is my home now. We are happy because we have found lovely people and a lovely city. I think if you have this in your life, everything is much better and everything is easy.”
After getting married earlier this year, Tonali and his wife Juliette are expecting their first child in early 2026.
Following the appointment of Ross Wilson as sporting director, Newcastle are also looking to tie Tonali down to a new long-term deal with his current contract up in 2028.
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