Will Sandro Tonali leave Newcastle United this summer?
Headlines appear every day, multiple times a day, claiming so.
This is the case for any number of Newcastle United stars.
The truth is that this has been the case for a number of years, since Eddie Howe arrived and United have bought so many good players.
It kind of goes with the territory, as funnily enough clubs are desperate to try and sign the best players.
Newcastle United fans wouldn’t be feeling this never ending stress of our best players getting linked with other clubs if they were rubbish.
It doesn’t mean that the best Newcastle United players will actually leave though. As has been mentioned by others, in the nine transfer windows under Eddie Howe, the only player who has been desperate to leave AND done so, is Alexander Isak. All of the other departures have been ones initiated by Newcastle United.
These were the biggest transfer fees (including reported potential future add-ons) Premier League clubs agreed to pay in the two windows for the 2025/26 season:
£130m Alexander Isak (Newcastle United to Liverpool)
£116m Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen to Liverpool)
£79m Hugo Ekitike (Eintracht Frankfurt to Liverpool)
£74m Benjamin Sesko (RB Leipzig to Man U)
£69m Nick Woltemade (Stuttgart to Newcastle United)
£68m Eberechi Eze (Palace to Arsenal)
£65m Antoine Semenyo (Bournemouth to Man City)
£65m Bryan Mbeumo (Brentford to Man U)
£64m Viktor Gyokeres (Sporting Lisbon to Arsenal)
£63m Matheus Cunha (Wolves to Man U)
If you take away the crazy money Liverpool threw around last summer, a clear picture emerges.
More money than has ever been spent before by Premier League clubs this season BUT something stands out.
The richest and most powerful clubs are now looking to finance very expensive squads, rather than individuals.
We previously saw £100m+ spent on each of Rice, Fernandez and Caicedo but I think we have moved away from that.
Manchester City and Arsenal battling it out for the Premier League this season with very expensive squads but squads that include lots of players who have transfer fees at the £50m, £60m, £70m level.
In January, Manchester City bought Guehi for £20m due to his contract set to end at Palace this summer, though paying him more than £16m per season in wages.
Whilst Semenyo had a £65m release clause and Man City happy to pay him massive wages as well.
Arsenal’s spending following a similar path, huge wages paid out to the players but not £100m+ transfer fees.
Sandro Tonali cost Newcastle United £55m three years ago and AC Milan reported to have a clause that will give them a cut of any transfer fee United sell him for.
It is all very well talking of Sandro Tonali leaving, that is if he wants to, but who will pay the transfer fee that makes United willing to sell. We all know Alexander Isak finally got his way BUT that was only once Liverpool agreed to pay the £130m to seal the deal. If they had offered say £80m for a player that had cost Newcastle £63m and Real Sociedad to get a cut as well, there is no way United would have sold him last summer.
We have already seen how difficult it can be to replace a star player and Newcastle United not the only ones to find this out.
The media desperate to claim that Anthony Gordon will leave Newcastle as well this summer but he cost £45m and Everton reported to be getting a cut of whatever he might be sold for.
When you consider how much better these two players (and many others that Eddie Howe signed) are rated than when arriving at Newcastle United, what kind of offers would lead Newcastle United to be willing to sell them? Nobody is saying £70m-£80m isn’t big money BUT when you consider all the other factors (how much they cost, how much they have improved etc), I can’t see why with zero contract pressure to sell, the NUFC owners would entertain any sale at those kind of prices. Again, this is if you assume either player, any player, wants to leave Newcastle United in the first place.