Tonali signing 'massive' for Newcastle
Sandro Tonali's £60m move from Milan to Newcastle United went through on Monday.
Sandro Tonali’s arrival can be “massive” for Newcastle United as Eddie Howe’s side aim to continue the upward trend next season.
Newcastle have enjoyed a meteoric rise from relegation candidates to qualifying for the Champions League over the past 18 months.
While the morality of their Saudi Arabia-backed ownership group can, and must, be called into question, on the pitch they have built a quality side, and signing Italy international Tonali is a statement of intent.
Tonali has cost Newcastle in the region of £60million (€70m), making him the most expensive Italian player in history.
A Milan fan, Tonali was not reportedly keen to leave the Rossoneri, but the offered fee was deemed too good to turn down.
For Newcastle, they are bringing in a player that has been a mainstay of Milan’s side for the past two seasons, including in their 2021-22 Serie A-winning campaign.
Newcastle supporter and journalist Ben Spratt spoke to More Than A Game to discuss Tonali’s arrival and what success will look like for Newcastle next term.
MASSIVE, BUT MUCH NEEDED
It’s a massive one really. The key area coming into the summer was going to be the midfield, because Newcastle spent the entirety of last season pretty much with four midfielders across three positions. If any of those had got injured for a long amount of time, that’d have been the end of it, and they hobbled over the line a bit anyway. By the last day of the season, it was an injured Bruno [Guimaraes] in a three-man midfield with Elliot Anderson and Anthony Gordon, which isn’t a midfield really. So to get a player of [Tonali’s] quality is massive.
PATIENCE PAYING OFF
Outside of social media, fans are willing to be patient with transfers, because under this ownership, they’ve got it right time and time again with transfers, and they just come out of the blue. Nick Pope is an example, there was no talk and he signed, Chris Wood was similar. They’re not the most glamorous of examples but it was similar for [Alexander] Isak and Bruno, they were deals done before anyone heard anything.
There have been names that have been linked semi-consistently, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the next signings after this were players who haven’t been discussed previously.
A DIFFERENT DIMENSION
Without the Champions League, signing Tonali wouldn’t be in the conversation even with the budget. The only one that’s comparable for calibre of player and club is probably signing Kieran Trippier, but the big difference is he was wanting to come back to England, whereas Tonali’s an Italian, a Milan fan who’s been taken away from Milan. He’s young and expensive but in terms of potential he really fits in what they’ve done with Bruno, [Sven] Botman, Isak – it’s the spine of a team that should grow together.
Tonali just looks a really good fit for what Newcastle need. A lot of fans, myself included, thought they would sign a genuine number six who’s only a number six and Bruno would play further forward. Tonali is more of a like-for-like with Bruno in that he can do both, play further forward and back, and that just means a lot of flexibility. The midfield isn’t set in stone positionally, for example a lot of times last season, Joelinton would play left wing and Joe Willock would play on the left of a midfield three, and they’s swap through the game. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see that with Tonali and Bruno doing a similar thing.
He definitely fits the mould in terms of what they’ve gone for, with big, powerful midfielders. He should add a bit of creativity. Sean Longstaff will probably be the one dropping out, and he was missed last season when he didn’t play, but even if Tonali gives away a bit in terms of energy, not that he’s a slouch, but I think the quality that he’s got is just miles ahead. He should add another dimension.
AIMS FOR NEXT SEASON
If all English clubs perform well in Europe, we’re looking at potentially five Champions League places, which would be huge for Newcastle. If Newcastle are going to continue the upward curve then I think they have to finish at least top eight in Europe, and that would maybe mean they could finish fifth and get the Champions League. Everyone might say Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham get better – I could see Liverpool overtaking Newcastle, but I’m not convinced Chelsea or Tottenham, and this could come back to bite me, are suddenly going to leap to fourth.
If there’s five Champions League places, I think Newcastle have got to be aiming to be in there again. Beyond that, cup competitions – they reached a final last season, so any season where Newcastle aren’t relegated and win a cup would be a success, but you can’t plan a season around winning a cup. Last season they got to a cup final and then completely fell out of form between the semi and the final and then lost to United without laying a glove on them.
Champions League, it’s likely going to be a tough group as a pot four team, but the aim has to be to finish at least third and go into the Europa League – some kind of knockout European football just to continue that progress. The aim would be to finish in the top two, obviously, but third in the group would be continuing the upwards direction. If you offered me fifth in the league and third in the Champions League group, I would take that.
By Patric Ridge
