„Born a Milanista, the son of a Milanista father who took him to the staduim as a child“ wrote Italian ‘Gazzetta’ about Sandro Tonali, who signed for a club of his life and aceepted lower wage at the beginning, only to stay in the club he supports for the rest of his career. So how this fairytale ended so quickly (he came to AC Milan in 2021)? After signing a five year deal with Newcastle United worth 52 milion pounds, he became the most expensive Italian ever. Until now, Arsenal’s Jorginho was the most expensive Italian when he moved to Chelsea in 2021 for 48 million pounds. Days after his signing, British media revealed some details which helped the Magpies to secure this excellent signing.Highlights: Sandro Tonali 🇮🇹, 2022/2023 season for AC Milan. #NUFC pic.twitter.com/vUKiGQnMJF— NUFCTalk 🥇 (@Newcastle_FC) July 3, 2023 Just when the season ended, Newcastle started ‘fishing’ for a midfielder, their number 1 transfer target. Since they needed all-round midfielder, but mainly the one who has defensive qualities, all eyes were on Declan Rice. Then they found out he was worth around 100 million pounds, plus 200.000 pounds a week for wages and immediately gave up. Even thou they are technically the world’s richest club, they cannot compare with both Manchesters, Chelsea or Arsenal yet. They have spent 250 million pounds net since the takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in October 2021 and they sold almost nobody. Financial Fair Play rules are breathing down their neck, so they gave up on Rice.A major coup for the Magpies: Tonali leaves his beloved Milan for an English adventure and doubles the moneyThen heads turned to Nicolo Barella, Sandro Tonali and Felix Nmecha. The British media wrote (and they were right) that the Magpies also wanted James Maddison, a much more offensive guy, and they were right, but a Barella/Tonali type was a priority. Coach Eddie Howe is very strict with his defensive assignments (Magpies had the best defense in the Premier League) and both Maddison, as well as a current member Allan Saint Maximin are not so defensively orientated. Apart from that, Newcastle weren’t sure if Maddison was keep on moving to the North East of England. So, they let Tottenham deal with him. The idea was to bring a midfielder who could relieve Bruno Guimaraes, their most prolific middle-man, and give him freedom to attack. Last season, the Brazilian missed six Premier League games and Newcastle didn’t win in any of them. Enough said.Sandro Tonali becomes the most expensive 🇮🇹 player EVER ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/RTWitc4Kdu— 433 (@433) July 3, 2023 So, when they started lurking around Barella and Nmecha, they soon found out that AC Milan representatives were in London, and met Chelsea representatives along the way. They also found out that the Blues were asking about Tonali and they weren’t refused. They realized Rossoneri are in a cash crisis and could maybe do a deal with them, which was unthinkable for Newcastle just a few months ago. A 23 year old who won Serie A with Milan and played in the Champions League is a staple signing for a team like Newcastle, who never wanted (and couldn’t) sign an already proven football star like Manchester City did with Robinho.Tears that prove that Americans know absolutely nothing about footballWhile media attention was turned to Barella and Nmecha, Newcastle executives were already in Milan and were negotiating with the club. When the news broke out, the deal was 90% done, and the Magpies knew that the media leak was intentional, in order to push them to bid up for Tonali. They didn’t accept that as they decided that this will not be a bidding war, and soon everything was set. Sandro was in Romania with Italy’s U-21 team, but he gave his acceptance at the very beginning of the process (and that’s something Newcastle insisted on) so agreeing personal terms was not something hard to do. And just like that, the Magpies got the Italian Declan Rice half a price.##NAJAVA_MECA_7353141##
