Many envisaged Sandro Tonali’s spell at AC Milan lasting for many years – possibly over 10 in fact – and it could well all be coming to a very abrupt end.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recall that Tonali’s idol Gennaro Gattuso had decided to leave Milan to put the disappointment of Istanbul behind him, but Adriano Galliani used strong tactics to keep him.
He locked his No.8 in the trophy room and only opened the door when the midfielder agreed to stay with the Rossoneri. However, there was no Galliani for Tonali and instead the club have not been able to resist the advances of Newcastle and their huge offer.
Of course it is a different game now and the fact Milan have received a huge bid for Tonali is simply the law of the market. However, the paper acknowledges how it hurts when a player leaves who was destined to become a legend.
We imagined that in a few years Sandro would be ‘the last flag bearer’ for everyone given his red and black faith, one which led him to reduce his salary so as to make his stay at the club permanent. When the Scudetto happened, those feelings were affirmed.
However, Milan cannot compete with a team that haven’t won the first division since 1927, the FA Cup since 1955 and whose last trophy (not counting the Intertoto and the Anglo-Italian Cup) dates back to the 1969 Fairs Cup.
In 2016-17, while Tonali completed his career in the Brescia youth sector, Newcastle were promoted to the Premier League from the second division. Alan Shearer and Shay Given are not Pippo Inzaghi, Kaka, Paolo Maldini and Andriy Shevchenko.
Having arrived at the club in a deal worth €35m from Brescia, a discount was agreed following a rough first season, but then in the Scudetto-winning campaign everything changed as he scored vital goals against Lazio and Verona which led Milan to the title.
A renewal of his contract with double the pay and a Champions League semi-final appearance would become the last chapters in Tonali’s time at Milan. Now, his only encounter with the club he loves could be thanks to the Champions League draw.
Goodluck Sandro.
We never got to see you play as captain in your peak as would have happened surely.
Thank you.
Why not just sell leao , milan will get more money .
The last time I felt this way was when Kaka was sold to Madrid
That was a really sad day.
Lol why are you comparing this kid to one of the greatest Milan players of all time?
Tonali is no milan fan. He’s a money grabbing rat.
Furlani:
Tonali, do you want to move to Newcastle United?
Tonali:
I want the best for AC Milan.
Furlani:
You are sold to Newcastle for 80m.
I believe it was
Tonali: I want to stay and lead Milan
Furlani: We have an offer we are willing to accept
Tonali: Fine, you don’t value me, I’ll leave. I don’t trust you anyway
“Tonali: Fine, you don’t value me, I’ll leave. I don’t trust you anyway”
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
It’s just as likely (a lot more likely) that it’s something more like this:
Newcastle: Hey, Beppe, how much would Sandro want to move to England?
Riso: [Huge number] for Sandro, [huge number] for me, I’m not sure if Milan would be interested but I think it’s possible.
Newcastle: Done
Riso: Hey, Sandro, got a huge offer for you, are you interested in it? If so, we’ll get the clubs to talk about it and see if it’s possible.
Sandro: How much?! Yeah, let’s see what’s possible
Riso: Geoffrey, we’ve got Newcastle interested in Sandro and he’s interested in talking to them, they’re serious – shall I set up a meeting to see what they’d be willing to offer?
—
Your weird fantasies that the player has somehow been forced out of somewhere he’d rather stay just don’t make any sense I’m afraid – it takes both the club and Tonali to agree to it.
I should clarify, because there’s a lot of people that don’t like nuance and assume you must love or hate the ownership and base all your thoughts on that:
– I don’t think this is necessarily a good idea for Milan, though I understand the management’s logic
– I think Tonali has been an amazing player for the last few years and I hope he doesn’t go, because he should be the captain and face of the club – I’d rather he stayed
– I do understand why he is interested in the huge money on offer to him, no blame for the player there
Actually, based on Di Marzio, Tonali had not discuss the contract offer before Furlani told his agent about their asking price.
“I should clarify, because there’s a lot of people that don’t like nuance and assume you must love or hate the ownership and base all your thoughts on that:”
LOL. You do know you’re either lover or a hater here. Nothing in between. Even one positive word about the transfer and you are a Cardinale/RedBird-lover. One word about the fact that Maldini did’t sell anyone and you’re a Maldini-hater. That’s sempermilan-users for you. 😀
@bb: what about me?
I criticize Redbird regarding sacking of Maldini and sale of Tonali but I support Redbird over Investcorp and debunk the hoax regarding the implication of their debt on Milan. So am I a hater or lover of Redbird?
I don’t agree with some of Maldini’s target but I also defended him regarding loss of some player. So am I hater or lover of Maldini?
Eh. This is conjecture. Player has final say. Who could blame him for wanting to 3x or 4x his salary? There is no blame to be placed here, just the cold hard facts of modern day football. I’ll wish him well and still wear his jersey on game days.
Club can convince player to leave if thatis the best for the club. Just ask Zlatan and Kaka who had to leave to save Milan financially. Only this time, it’s to allow Milan to make move in transfer market.
For money he could have left last season itself than renewal,you should think à bit more why a player has destined to leave who committed his future less than 10months ago.
Dont be so naïve for everything
You should think that the market for him has changed a lot in the last 12 months. And, bear in mind his renewal gave him a pay rise at the time, but this offer wasn’t on the table for him then. Why did the club give him a new salary and renewal if they didn’t think there’d be interest in him?
There’s a big difference now, Newcastle have a Champion’s League spot and can increase their spending as the totally legitimate ‘sponsorships’ from Saudi firms come rolling in. And they don’t have a top class player in that position already.
Like it or not, Newcastle’s/Saudi’s money is the difference here. Look at how many players are moving to the Saudi league.
He’s moving for money. He doesn’t leave Milan if Newcastle don’t treble his wage. He could say no but he wants money. He’s a rat.
And Furlani told him it is a win-win solution for both Milan and Tonali, Tonali get pay rise, Milan get 80m transfer budget.
If you are Milan fans, what are you going to do? Stay and Milan can’t manouvre in transfer market or leave while giving Milan 80m it can use in transfer market?
You should be grateful to Tonali because he give a scudetto and 80m to the club. He is not the one who force the transfer here. Newcastle want him and Milan want the money.
Transfer doesn’t work that way. The player has to accept leaving. Just like when Kessie refused to leave the last summer he was at the club and bs people saying that he wants Milan president forever. Same goes for Donnaruma, the club can accept if he signs there’s nothing club can do.
My biggest concern is Inter is holding off money for Barella while we’re happy to do business. It makes me sad.
Dude, the conversation was just a joke.
The point is, if Milan accept the offer that means Milan believe receiving 80m is better than keeping Tonali. As a fan, you want the club to be in better position, are you not? Tonali is giving us 80m so we can sign players we needed. Be thankful to him.
Nonsense, the club has to formally accept the offer before giving the go ahead to the player to negotiate so technically speaking if Milan were willing to listen to Newcastle and had accepted their offer that means that they did not value Tonali enough to keep him.
So in other words if i was the player and the club told me they accepted an offer for me to me it’s a clear sign they want me out of there. So of course i would go and with that i would ask for a pay rise.
So don’t blame the player blame RedBird. Don’t forget to the Milan is a money making machine, and is not something that they keep close to heart as do you and i or many other fans around the world.
Ultimately it’s RedBird and RedBird alone that decide who goes and who stays.
Maldini and Ibra leaving would of also left a bitter taste in Sandros mouth too.
Shut up, can Milan offer him such amount even in the next 6 to 7 years, football is an occupation as long as you can’t settle for peanut as a salary what’s your problem with Tonali leaving a team that values capital than trophies?
Let him go, wish him goodluck and stop hating.
Stop defending this money grabber. I hope he fails badly playing for those terrorists.
Milan is also the money grabber here, grabbing 80m. Do you hate Milan for grabbing terrorist’s money now? You know Milan can also refuse the offer.
You called them terrorist, are you from Yemen?
The Newcastle owners funded 9/11
Well it’s clear now that RedTurd are only interested in making money and not sporting success.
What’s more they have again shown how little they understand the sport in Italy.
Tonali is a flag bearer!
Following the grotesque manner of Maldini’s dismissal, this is another attack on the institution of AC Milan and it’s supporters.
The club is selling it’s heart and soul.
I think this is the darkest moment in my 35 years as a supporter.
What can we do against these tyrants?
“Well it’s clear now that RedTurd are only interested in making money and not sporting success.”
So selling one player proves that, eh? If Milan gets Thuram, Frattesi, Chumbawamba & SMS and wins the scudetto, will you be still shouting that? They’re selling ONE player. Something M&M failed to do for many years.
It’ll be a different story IF Milan sells Maignan, Theo and/or Leao. But they haven’t sold them so…
Rumors have it, they are listening for offers for Theo next…
Flag bearer culture has already died kn Milan ,the day Maldini has been sacked with the way it had been.
Dont expect it is historic club Milan anymore maybe a ac redbird is good name than ac milan
Darkest moment?
No. Far from it.
Kaka leave is more painful. The days in the banter period.
More important players already sold in the past. It’s not the end of the world that Tonali go, as long as the club use all 80m for transfer.
Frattesi and Sangare could be the start. Oh and Arda Guler and Chukwueze
If we can get 3-4 of those players with Sandro money it’s a win for me.
Based on the transfer budget and sale of Tonali, we can only get 3 out of those 4 and that must include Guler (cheapest one). My pick are Fratesi, Sangare, and Guler. I don’t want Chuk’s presence hamper the growth of Guler.
Ah, finally someone with sense. How refreshing.
Really sad at this.
This was a future captain who would’ve bled for the shirt.
I get it, but at the same time I’m struggling to accept it.
I think we all know that Sandro wasn’t this world class midfielder who is a Balon dor contender but it was all love and we felt that through him no matter his shortcomings.
Still we’re being ‘linked’ to all and sundry bit we keep losing from the pack.
I guess time will tell.
Forza Milan
Forza Sandro
Not a surprise, I said when Cardinale saked Maldini… Redbird is here to milk the club for money, they will sell our best players and get another young players and sell them again for profit, Maldini build a good team with Tonali,Mike, Tomori,Kalulu and Leao… all they needed to do was sell players like Krunic,Origi, Messiah,Alexis even Calabria or Bennacer and buy 2-3 good players but Redbird doesn’t care about winning trophies.
Milan will go down… and in a few years they will sell the club to cut losses.
Speechless
Now we are feeling what Lazio fans felt when Nesta had to come to Milan for Lazio’s sake.
It hurts, indeed.
We already felt that when Sheva move to Chelsea, Kaka move to Madrid, Zlatan and Thiago Silva more to P$G.
I’m not counting $umma because we get Maignan before he decided to leave for free.
Ac milan have the worst curva sud supporters ……they seeing cardinal destroying milan and stupid curva sud continue to be silent…….the curva sud will wait until next season when our team is failing to start to open their dotish mouths
Or they see how Milan can now finance a proper mercato to strengthen the team and compete for scudetto next season instead of crying “we’re a feeder club, we’re a feeder club”.
Curva sud supporters are becoming weak, they blocked Kaka when Man City want to buy him nowadays are useless
Isn’t Tonali family part of Curva Sud?
Any club will sell any player if the right offer comes.
We lost Sheva, Kaka, Thiago Silva, Ibra. All on their golden age. All arguably far more important than Sandro right now for each period.
And we still here.
Very rarely I was that sad for a transfer… Good luck, Sandro!
Seria seems to be a second-tier division with Premier League being the new Super League. We bearly can pay 5 to 7 millions to a superstar like Leao, this is shameful.
You just realize that? It’s been the fact for 5 or more seasons.
Truth is PL clubs even the bottom half ones, got more money than most team in Serie A.
I support Mialn 25 years, but i don’t want to watch a single match of this team, this is not Milan, i’ve seen berlusconi selling many players after years of success but they never let go loyal players, Tonali was loyal and i am sure he is leaving because they sacked Maldini, i am sure Leao wouldn’t have signed contract if they had sacked Maldini before, they will sell anyone if any good offer comes, even players would consider leaving club after such kind of disrespect to a club legend to the nost loyal player ever played football and not only loyalty he was Milan, he was the best defender of all times, for me he was a player a person why i support Milan and i never stopped watching Milan games even the lat 8 years of shame and fall, Maldini came and rebuilt the team and they ruined everything.
well said sir
Kaka, Sheva….. All loyal players during their time. Sold. And you continued to support. Don’t be dramatic. Everything will be ok.
One point of correcttion, maybe not Given but let’s not pretend Shearer is not a huge legend for England and Newcastle. He’s basically the Sheva of the Prem at the time or better for that matter in terms of goals. Guy was a goal scoring machine but didn’t have great players to work with. More like Batigol at Fiorentina, phenomenal player among an average team.
The era of Baresi’s Pirlo’s Costacurta’s Maldini’s Gattuso’s staying for 10+ years is obviously over. I thought Tonali might be the exception…
Different regime now at Milan. Will take some time to adjust. Kind of brilliant though (in a dark way) – hit the rock bottom early into the summer, from here on nowhere to go but up. LOL!!!
Thank you Tonali. Unlike some buggers who left on a free, you are enriching Milan with a huge profit. We need to salute Tonali instead of heaping scorn
One day, Tonali will come back to AC Milan😥🤐♥
Next season on loan with a buy option, no way he will settle in Newcastle after living Milan
We are loaning Sandro for 12 months for €80M
Worst case, we can get him for free in 5-6 years. That also happen to be when our new stadium is finished so we can finally get rid of the selling culture.
After the Arab money which has come into play and the exodus of the players to the Saudi league, every decent footballer on the planet is taking a cold hard look at their finances and how they can boost them, not just Tonali every player!!!
This is how it will be from here on!!
But for me to fill the Tonali sale we should get:
Chiesa
Zanilo
Frattasi
And Scalvini
Then the Tonali sacrifice…sorry sale is worth it!!
Bitter taste? Sorry but Tonali’s sale is a knife stab in ACM heart.
Yes Kakà was sold…Totally different occasion though.
Kaka had his era with ACM..Tonali hasn’t yet begun.
Also who can blame Silvio for selling Kakà? Berlusconi invested sooooo much money in Milan before Kaka’s departure.
What have these Redbird jokers done, apart from burn each Milan flag to the ground?
American investors in European football is a total disaster…Just go back to your baseball, NFL or ice hockey you’ve got there and let us be.
But they will build a stadium. You will hear these non fans keep repeating that. I think Nesta, Ancelotti and the rest explained perfectly.
Anyhow, Tonali and Calabria should have been untouchable. For anyone that disagrees, you don’t have the same core values like I do, nothing to talk about. I think you’re not a proper human being.
Calabria should be only untouchable as a sub. He is utterly not in the calibre of important first team member and also not worthy Milan’s captain. If he was not a Milan’s youth product, he should have been relegated to the bench.
Worst Milan’s captain ever ffs!
Uhm…… Invest 1.3billion to buy the club in the first place? They have A LOT of money riding on this.
@Martin – it’s not about core values. Just a different wolrd we live in. No longer the Berlusconi days. Money rules and money talks. We don’t have to like it. We either go along for the ride to see where it leads, or we depart the train and go support clubs with more money.
Well they didn’t invest that much. Li also didn’t that is why he lost the club in the end, right? If he really invested that money he would have still been here.
Yes it is, some clubs still have those values and are at the top of world football. German, Spanish, English. Seems like Italy declined really steeply. You can do whatever you want, trust me, I am not interested. Jump off a building if you want but don’t tell me what I should do. Piss off
Horrible. Even talking with them. Anyhow, I do hope Gerry and his team have a little airplane crash and we get rid of that turd faster than we got rid of Tonali. The best part is these comments of people that are defending this move. You are not real Milan fans, like Tonali is. Period.
it’s funny knowing pretty well they wanted to buy Milan or Inter and were turned down. Now they want to wreck the two teams. Won’t be surprise if they still go for Ballera of Inter
You mad on player leaving for free, you mad on player leaving with huge transfer amount. What a fan we have.
Sandro is different with $rumma and Hakan. Credit to Kessie still because without him, we will never won the scudetto.
This is not the end of the chapter of Sandro with Milan. He is Milanista, taking a pay cut is never easy, and lets think this way, Sandro is in long term loan to Newcastle and will come back for free when the contract is finish (I wish) because for me, he is captain material for Milan. For now, let’s hope that these clowns spend the money from Sandro properly.
CIAO TONALI, good luck, and thanks a lot for the scudetto
One thing is a guaranteed bull$hit.. that is we ‘needed’ to sell tonali to fund transfers. No one in Milan said it officially, clearly fans made that copium up because they cant deal with the fact that we sold Tonali for money that Milan didn’t really need but a tapeworm feeding on Milan named Cardinale did.
No Milan didn’t need to sell Tonali. Milan had enough money to invest. In fact, if a dead average Enzo fernandez is worth 120 mil, Tonali will be at least 150 by next season so Milan would have made a LOT more money if we kept him because his valuation has NO reason to drop. Newcastle knows it. So they Basically won here in this deal. With a good team around Tonali, the club will do even better in UCL so his price may go higher.
Tapeworm Cardinale has no intention of winning anything. What that tapeworm wants, is buying low cost potentials with the money from selling Champions so he can sell those noobs again to feed clubs like Newcastle.
Is it a good business? Of course it is. In fact.. it is a masterstroke of business.. For fckn feeder club standards. Do you know who else does masterstroke of businesses? Dortmund, RB clubs, Atalanta, Brugge etc. Will they EVER win anything? No. They are making millions every year tho. It’s called a feeder mentality. Very good for tapeworm, bad for the club and us fans. We have to be content with barely competing for the 7th spot.
No matter how big of a feeder you are, it’s only sporting success that actually brings viewers and club makes more money with people watching them more than feeding will EVER make. Example.. Dortmund’s BEST financial year was the one when they won Bundesliga despite all the feeding year after year. In fact, same applies for us. We had the best financial year in last 15 years because of sporting success. Brought people around the world along with us fans to watch Milan. But now, we sacrificed our ambition.
Sooner or later, Mike will leave. There is no reason for him to renew because so far, Milan displayed no sign of ANY sporting ambition and he wants to win.
Apparently, negotiations ongoing for Theo as well lol So we need money from Theo’s sale to do what exactly? Any Cardinale bootlickers out there to explain a new copium to us lilke we need to sell Tonali to fund other transfers? lmfao