After a relatively short period of “will he?”, “won’t he?”, our Italian thoroughbred Sandro Tonali has finally said “Ta-da” to Tyneside.
He leaves behind, to varying degrees, a depressed and frustrated fan base.
Sad to lose such a classy player who had contributed so much to our recent successes but also, with the best will in the world, feeling let down – at least to some extent – at the sight of a man they had stood by in his ten months of need leaving for the bright lights of London and a club seemingly entrenched in the nether regions of the Premier League.
Why would Sandro Tonali do this?
His parting statement was quite classy and, I believe, heartfelt. He certainly seemed to have formed an emotional attachment to the club, to Eddie Howe and the Newcastle United fans who stuck by him and showed him tremendous support and understanding from day one.
As in any important decision made in life, the reasoning will have been complex.
Being a professional sportsman with a short career relative to us mere mortals, it must always be acknowledged that money talks. Sandro Tonali was reportedly on £150,000 per week at Newcastle United, contracted to 2029 with a year extension that could be triggered unilaterally by the club.
Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly agreed to pay £275,000+ per week to Sandro Tonali as part of a six-year contract. That’s an extra £6.5 million per year, £39 million over six seasons.
I absolutely defy anyone reading and/or contributing to The Mag to tell me they would pass up an offer of that magnitude. Some of the more severe critics of Sandro Tonali, since he made his decision, have referred to him as a mercenary and bewailed his lack of loyalty. Well, mercenaries are people who contract themselves out for limited periods of time for financial remuneration. That sounds suspiciously like the life of a pro footballer to me. He’s doing what successful footballers do!
Credit: Tottenham Hostspur FC
As for loyalty, what does that mean in the modern game? I can remember the stick dished out to Alexander-Arnold as he prepared to move on to Real Madrid. Rather than lauding his loyalty in staying with Liverpool for the duration of his deal (what I always believed was “honouring” a contract) the stock descriptions of his behaviour on The Mag was that he was “cynically running down his contract and depriving the club of a final pay-off!” In terms of disloyal behaviour, I hesitate to even mention a certain Alexander the Ingrate.
Attractive as the extra money undoubtedly must be to him, another vitally important ingredient in any young footballer’s decision-making has to be family. People ask, “Why Spurs? 17th two seasons running and sacking managers for fun.”
Despite repeated rumours of Arsenal wanting to sign him, only Spurs emerged from the woodwork to make, in the end, what I would consider a very reasonable offer. But maybe there could be more about a move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium than money and family considerations
After some farcical musical chairs involving the management seat, the Spurs Board eventually made what I see, anyway, as a sound appointment in Roberto de Zerbi. Not only a shrewd and successful manager but a compatriot of Tonali, he clearly has real ambition and the Board are obviously prepared to back him by loosening the strings to Tottenham’s giant sized purse.
So far, Spurs have signed Andy Robertson, Marco Senesi and Martin Dubravka on frees, as well as paying serious money for Van Hecke, Tonali and Fernandes, plus rumoured to be also interested in Somerville. On top of the very decent players that they already have, that represents a pretty useful Premier League squad being assembled. De Zerbi means business and will have had the opportunity to sell his vision to his countryman.
How damaging or otherwise is the loss of Sandro Tonali to the club? Will he be missed?
Stats suggest maybe not so much: across all competitions Sandro Tonali scored eight goals and managed eight assists for Newcastle United.
However, there is a lot more to a player than goal involvement stats. Who can’t remember being awed as he raced the length of the pitch late in a match to make a possibly goal saving interception/tackle/block. How many more points might we have dropped without his energy in midfield – even last season when he was relatively up and down in performance?
Some people put his erratic play down to a loss of interest because he had already decided he wanted away. Well, we can never know what’s inside someone’s head until the autobiography comes out so I can’t say those people are definitely wrong but I would offer up two additional factors – the virus he suffered from last year (Covid, perhaps?) and the arrival of the baby six months ago.
Where top professionals are concerned, I can never accept that their road to “bigger and better” clubs is via a lack of energy and/or effort on the pitch! If he wanted a move, a “promotion”. surely he would try harder to show that he was worth it?
So, at the end of the day, what of his legacy and fan reaction? These are a small sample of comments made on a Mag article when his decision was finally made public.
“ …. he did a great job for us, thanks for the trophy
100M for a defensive midfielder is great for our club too
good luck Tonali ….”
“Money, Wag and bright lights. After Nufc bailed him out and he wasted a year I sincerely hope he fails miserably.”
“Thankfully he more than played his part at Wembley and we should all remember that.”
“Nothing but a snake in my book.”
It would be interesting to see what sort of correlation exists between those slagging him off for his lack of loyalty and those desperate to give Eddie Howe the push because his standards (in the league) dropped last season. But that’s an argument for another time, perhaps.
In the man’s defence, I would point out that he volunteered to go without pay, or at least to have a cut, during his ban. After discussion, it seems that this is where the agreement was reached for a voluntary one year contract extension. He was clearly appreciative of the club standing by him and keen to repay that faith in some way. At the end of the day, that extra year on the contract will have added some sort of amount to the final Spurs offer.
My personal view concerning his legacy is that regardless of all other considerations, he came to us in the first instance and cemented his place in Newcastle United folklore by playing a significant part in ensuring that the team delivered something I thought I wasn’t going to see again in my lifetime- a trophy. That can never be taken away from him.
What are the implications for club policy in the future?
For me, sad as the situation undoubtedly is, it shows what we have to grin and bear for now. We can’t afford to keep all of our top performers. Although our commercial revenue has increased relatively quickly under these Newcastle United owners compared to the previous regime, it is still lagging well behind the pantomime villains of the Septic Six. In the short term, we can only boost revenue significantly through player sales. Shrewd wheeling and dealing is a route we have to take whether we as fans like it or not.
We got a very reasonable price for Tonali in the end which has boosted our ”war chest” nicely and the indications are that, under Ross Wilson’s guidance, we are trying to spend it wisely on young European players (Bazoumana Toure pictured below) with potential. Something many contributors to The Mag have been calling for.
Credit: Newcastle United FC
With sales like this and well judged acquisition of young talent, I believe the club is taking a sensible and realistic decision. Last summer’s transfer window and this year’s debacle involving Munoz have clearly demonstrated that we just aren’t ready financially to try and live with the Premier League “cabal”. We have to think and act differently.
I’m looking forward to seeing what else develops during this Newcastle United transfer window and to see how we approach the forthcoming Premier League season.
Grazie, Sandro. Àrrivederci e buona fortuna.