Newcastle seeking assurances from The FA over Sandro Tonali confusion - journalist

Sandro Tonali is coming to the end of the 10-month ban he was given just 12 games into his Newcastle United career.

Not long after Newcastle splashed out £55million on Italy ace Sandro Tonali, it was reported that he had been placing bets on football, including games in which he was participating.

The investigation concluded with the 24-year-old being whacked with a 10-month ban from all football which saw him miss the bulk of Newcastle United's season as well as being unable to represent Italy at Euro 2024 - Bet the Italian Football Federation regret that now.

As part of the ban, Tonali was forbidden to take part in friendly games unless they were played "behind closed doors" which is why it was odd that the Italian's name was missing from the team sheet over the weekend as Newcastle played out a 3-1 win over German minnows SpVgg Unterhaching.

Newcastle aren't clear on whether Tonali can play behind closed doors friendlies

It now seems that there is some confusion over whether or not Tonali can actually play in behind-closed-doors friendlies, which is why the Magpies didn't take the risk.

Journalist Joel Bland has taken to X to report that Newcastle are seeking clarification from The FA, but with just one more behind-closed-doors friendly on the schedule, it looks like Tonali won't be getting many, if any minutes at all under his belt before he is able to return to action in the game against Tottenham Hotspur on 1st September.

As one X user pointed out in the replies to Bland's post, the FA are likely to drag their heels and give their answer when the season has kicked off.

How can the club not know after eight months?

It seems odd that Newcastle have got eight months into Tonali's ban without being 100% sure on when he is and isn't allowed to play.

We just hope that the training sessions are intense enough that it won't take Tonali long to get back up to speed when he returns from his ban, otherwise, we may be waiting ages to fully see what we paid for as he'd never really got up to speed before he was banned.

Newcastle have a friendly with Scott Parker's Burnley set to be played behind closed doors, so clarification before then would be nice please, Mr FA man.