Depending on how tight your tin foil hat is, there's a theory that Newcastle United were only able to do the deal for Sandro Tonali because AC Milan knew the betting charges and a hefty ban were coming his way.
We have to admit that it all happened very quickly after his Newcastle arrival that it seems far fetched to suggest that Milan had no idea, but the Italian club, obviously, denied all knowledge.
Whatever the truth behind how the deal was done, the reality is that Sandro Tonali is now a Newcastle United player, and while we had a big 10-month gap when we couldn't see him play, he's back in action now and already starting to show why he's so well loved by Milan and Italy.
Indeed, Milan are already regretting letting him leave at all. It was a decision that didn't go over well with their fanbase and now it seems there's a feeling around the club that they made a mistake.
Italian journalist Marco Cattaneo spoke to MilanNews saying how he felt Tonali was their 'perfect captain'.
“Milan had the perfect captain until two years ago, then he went to Newcastle. For me he was the perfect captain of Milan from then until the next 15 years.”
Milan have a belief that Tonali will return to them at some point in the future, but we doubt that will be any time soon.
Tonali has a big debt to repay Newcastle after sticking by him during his case and subsequent punishment and it's expected that Tonali is determined to repay the club for that faith in him.
So Milan will just have to wait and rue their decision because he is now Sandro Toonali and he's going nowhere.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
13 | 18 | 34 |
2 |
Arsenal
|
13 | 12 | 25 |
3 |
Chelsea
|
13 | 12 | 25 |
4 |
Brighton
|
13 | 5 | 23 |
5 |
Manchester City
|
13 | 3 | 23 |
6 |
Nottingham Forest
|
13 | 3 | 22 |
7 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
13 | 14 | 20 |
8 |
Brentford
|
13 | 3 | 20 |
9 |
Manchester United
|
13 | 4 | 19 |
10 |
Fulham
|
13 | 0 | 19 |
11 |
Newcastle United
|
13 | 0 | 19 |
12 |
Aston Villa
|
13 | -3 | 19 |
13 |
Bournemouth
|
13 | 1 | 18 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
13 | -7 | 15 |
15 |
Everton
|
13 | -11 | 11 |
16 |
Leicester
|
13 | -11 | 10 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
13 | -7 | 9 |
18 |
Wolves
|
13 | -10 | 9 |
19 |
Ipswich
|
13 | -11 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
13 | -15 | 5 |