Some of the background has emerged on how Newcastle United managed to secure the signing of Sandro Tonali from AC Milan.
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The Athletic have given the full inside story on Milan’s club-record sale, which is one that has raised eyebrows around the footballing world given Tonali being a boyhood Milan fan and declaring a desire to stay ‘for the rest of my career’.
The source claims to have spoken to a senior figure at the very top of Newcastle’s hierarchy who gave information to The Athletic on condition of anonymity in order to protect relationships.
They claim that the feeling internationally is that the 23-year-old could be ‘as good as Rice, maybe better’, adding: “Similar to the Isak signing, we didn’t really think we could get him.”
“Sandro is a star at AC Milan. He lives and breathes the club. We weren’t expecting it,” he added. In the end, it was the Milan officials being in London last month to speak with Chelsea where everything unlocked.
Chelsea had spoken to the Rossoneri delegation about Tonali around the time of the Champions League semi-finals and were willing to offer up three of their players, while Liverpool were also keen.
Then, Newcastle became aware after their failed pursuit of Inter’s Nicolo Barella that the opportunity might be there to sign Tonali. If they could convince the player to leave his team, then convincing Milan would be easier.
“Things changed, so we moved accordingly,” the senior figure says. They talked about the midfielder’s skill set and character, putting their analysis forward to Yasir Al-Rumayyan – the governor of PIF – and receiving the green light to proceed.
There could be no leaks because the sacking of technical director Paolo Maldini – a club legend – meant that Milan were in a very sensitive moment and talk of selling Tonali would have gone down badly. Newcastle, meanwhile, wanted to avoid an auction.
The Athletic mention that Tonali’s move has been framed in the Italian media as being ‘Maldini vs. Moneyball, heart vs. algorithms’. RedBird Capital do have a data arm and have used Mr. Moneyball Billy Beane, so why did they decide to sell?
The algorithms ‘didn’t know Tonali’s loyalty to Milan would melt in the face of Newcastle’s offer’ as per the report, just as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s did when Paris Saint-Germain doubled his salary two years ago.
Tonali ‘saw this opportunity for what it is’ while Milan have got a record fee for an Italian player. Not only that, but they have tripled their transfer budget in the same summer they tied Rafael Leao down to a new deal.
Newcastle ‘were respectful of Milan’s circumstances’ as the senior source added: “We were aware of who we were buying from, the history of the club and the gravitas around Sandro’s position.”
Tonali agreed terms while on U21 duty with Italy and then an opening bid of €50m was made. Not long after, their transfer chiefs Ashworth and Nickson were in Milan at the Palazzo Parigi Hotel speaking with the player’s representative Beppe Riso.
They moved to finalise the deal on the players’ side before turning to Milan. The offer went up to €70m including add-ons, while Milan wanted a deal worth €80m but they did not end up getting that much.
What filters from Newcastle’s side is that they believe an initial fee of around €60m ‘represents decent value for a player of his quality’.
On Friday, Newcastle send two delegates to meet Tonali in Romania and finalise personal terms. That was when Beppe Riso returned to Italy not too long after and confirmed things were moving along.
“This is an excellent deal and Newcastle is the perfect project for Tonali. Newcastle wanted Sandro as a key signing at all costs. He will be a crucial player for the Magpies,” he said.
The final details were resolved, the Euros ended and now were are at today. Milan confirmed on their official website that Tonali has completed his move to Newcastle, sending their thanks, while the player suggested he could be back one day.
