AC Milan could be put onto high alert this summer, with Sandro Tonali wanting a move back to Italy at the end of the season, a report writes.
There have been rumours about Tonali’s immediate future for some time now, and it seemed through the January mercato that there was a chance he could leave Newcastle with Arsenal looking to make a deal happen.
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However, the midfielder wanted to end the season with the Magpies, but it does not mean he isn’t interested in a move away.
Tonali sirens ring
As Calciomercato reports, the former Milan man wants a return to Italy, perhaps at the end of this season. In fact, the roadmap looks like this; lead Italy to the World Cup, then Newcastle to Europe and then, return home.
Giuseppe Riso, who spoke about his future this morning, ‘has been trying so hard to keep the rumours at bay’, but Tonali’s mind is clear. He wants to return to Serie A.
Obviously, the links will point back to the Rossoneri, who have never closed the door to his return and neither has he. However, they have not shown ‘the necessary interest’ just yet, and negotiations with Newcastle could be difficult after the gambling saga.
Juventus, Arsenal and Napoli are all taking a look at the player, and would all be considered a host of significant interest, if he was to leave the North East in the next few months.
Of those, it seems only the Gunners may be able to fulfil his wage demands, and more importantly, the asking price from Newcastle. Sky UK reports that the Geordies will ask for €80 million for the midfielder, but it would be even higher for an English rival.
An exit would be complicated, certainly, but this is where the will of the player may be key. After all, his value is only going to decrease in the future, with a deal expiring in 2028.
If there were ever a time for a statement signing, it would be now, and it would be Tonali, we shall have to see how this situation unfolds.
Fofana + 55 million. But I doubt that they’ll take that.
Ooo I like that idea.
Why add fofana when he can be sold for 35/40 then add 40mil to get Tonali and our is set.
I think adding fofana gives them a replacement without having to go to the market and even if we sell him for 40 mil and then we put in 80 I’d bet they want upwards of 85 mil for him to return to Milan
The same Fofana who was just central to the win over Bologna and a number of other games this season?
Central? C’mon he finally had a day without horrible errors and was just ok. Rabiot was central.
He literally helped create a goal by winning the ball back in their third.
He’s done that so many times this season.
I wouldn’t say he was central, but I think Sandro could fill the exact role that Fofana plays and I’d bet he could to a better extent
Sell Leao to fund Tonali’s return. Midfield with Rabiot, Tonali, and Ricci/Jashari after Modric leaves, that would be solid.
With us moving to 3-5-2, we need more of a true striker than we do wingers, so that would benefit the team and strengthen the spine for the next 5-6 years.
Sell Leao to buy a type of midfielder that Milan doesn’t need?
Who says that Milan is moving to 352?
Allegri wanted to play 433 but because management left him without players to play that formation, especially full backs, he was forced to change on a fly and switch to 352.
Pass, especially for 80 mil.
“Allegri wanted to play 433”, source? What we have to work with are facts. And the facts are that since 2013 Allegri has overwhelmingly used 3-5-2, even when at a club that had a great deal of financial resources (Juventus) that could have given him the right players for whatever formation. Given this, the idea of selling Leao for Tonali is hardly crazy.
Milan doesn’t need Tonali? Who not? He’d slot right in to the middle of the three man midfield. 40 year old Modric is on his final lap. The only thing that stops this move is the Newcastle’s asking price, which will probably be beyond us even with a Leao sale. Watch him end up at Juventus or Inter, and boss Serie A and the national side for the next decade.
I stand corrected: during his first spell with Juventus he used various formations, including 3-5-2, 4-3-1-2 and 4-2-3-1, almost equally, but since Juventus 2.0 he’s preferred 3-5-2. 4-3-3 seems to have been his least preferred formation since leaving Milan the first time, but he used it for a spell during Juventus 1.0.
I stand corrected: during his first spell with Juventus he used various formations, including 3-5-2, 4-3-1-2 and 4-2-3-1, almost equally, but since Juventus 2.0 he’s preferred 3-5-2. 4-3-3 seems to have been his least preferred formation since leaving Milan the first time, but he used it for a spell during Juventus 1.0.
Milan record arrival so far is Leao and Milan paid him slighty less than 50 mil 6 years ago. There are so many reasons Milan never paid more than 50 mil for a player
The 3-5-2 this season was out of necessity with the squad we had. I don’t think it’s Allegri’s preference generally.
No. Not for that price.
Would love to see him back. Just keep him off betting offices.
Tonali will not come back to Milan unless his contract expires and we are not in need of midfielders. If any arrive it will most likely be Goretzka and or Verratti. Tonali will end up at Juventus for that price tag.
Well I pretty much agree but with one exception and that is maybe in his last contract year there could be an opening to sign him as well.
I really hope to see him back at some point.
Sounds about right. Unless we have a few MF leave next summer (Fofana and Modric probably), then the MGMT might think about bringing one new player to the midfield.
But for some reason, I aldo see him joining Juve eventually
So stupid selling him in the first place. Some players you just have to keep to build a great squad and create a spine for the team. We will never buy him back now they cant afford it and it would also be admitting they made a huge mistake.
It was brilliant actually. One of the best deals this club has ever made. We got more than he was worth from Newcastle which allowed us to bring in Pulisic and Reijnders. Then he was immediately suspended for a season for gambling. (The part everyone likes to conveniently leave out.)
He was an average midfielder for us, but everybody romanticizes it because he was an Italian boy who grew up loving Milan.
You should stick to the Monopoly World Cup because all you care about is money.
Slow news day I guess. Every time we have an off week we get the Tonali stories. Soon to be followed Theo and Maldini articles.
Are we gong to start pretending Tonali was Pirlo again?
Well he’s won the same number of Scudetto with Milan as Pirlo did.
I do want Tonali to return at some point but you are wrong though in regard of him winning as many scudettos as Pirlo as he got two with us.
Oops I forgot he was still there at the end of 10/11….
So Pirlo was twice as good as Tonali!
Join me for more arbitrarily rating players fun.
Not true and irrelevant anyways.
As irrelevant as you irrelevantly comparing him to Pirlo in the first place.
How about you produce your list of 100 top Milan players of all time.
I’m not that interested in your list but it’d give you something to do.
I wasn’t the one comparing him to Pirlo, that was my whole point. Any time there is a decent young Italian player the media has to overhype them and try and make them out to be something they are not. Just like the ridiculous articles after Bartesaghi has a couple good games calling him the next Maldini. They are so desperate to have new Italian stars that they overhype and overrate every young talent without them having earned it.
He would be a realistic target at end of 26/27 target with one year left on his contract and also if Modric renews for another season. However we need to keep an eye on his financial demands, that would be a deal breaker if he expects the same remuneration. Not holding my breath on this one…
It woupd all depends on the cost. He’s far better than half our midfielders. So replacing someone like fofana or RLC with him is a no brainer. Having a core of Tonali, modric, jashari, rabiot and Ricci is plenty good enough to control games. The question is the price. Personally id be fine seeing us offload guys like leao, rlc, fofana, and Nkunku in the summer. Bringing in tonali, vlahovic, another wingback, and a high level center back would be fantastic to do over the next 2-3 transfer windows
He should see his contract out and then return for free like he’s always been meant for 🙂
Biased Italian media.
As if any Italian that left Italy actually wanted to come back. None of them have, unless they flopped hard in the EPL.
Tonali right now is worth over 100M Euros. His contract with Newcastle is until 2030. Why the heck would they sell him for less than his current value.
Nobody in Italy will pay for bringing him back.
I doubt that it will happen right now but you simply got to accept that Tonali has been a Milan fan since his childhood and he could have gotten a better contract elsewhere had he not joined us to begin with, his family lives in Lombardy. I’ll say that there will probably be an opening in his late 20ies. Newcastle utd. most likely isn’t gonna play CL next season so if that continues for more than a season it might even push a sale beforehand. Not this summer though.
Just because his team won’t play UCL doesn’t mean Newcastle have to sell their stars like in Italy.
EPL teams earn near 200M in TV revenues alone. Even without UCL, they can afford to keep their teams together for years on end. Heck, even a team that finishes in 20th place would receive some parachute payment.
I don’t see them selling Tonali just because they miss out on UCL. Milan fans can dream about it, but unless Tonali runs down his contract or suffers some massive dip in form, I don’t see Newcastle selling him.
Best case scenario, Tonali runs his contract down in 2030 and comes back as a free agent.
As I mentioned if it happens for more than one year who’s to say that Tonali actually would want to stay there at that point. Besides of that Tonali has already proven once that money doesn’t matter as much as his love for AC Milan as he even took a pay cut to his original offer and could also have joined Barcelona and other clubs.
And he left his beloved Milan for more money…
Well if you think he really wanted to leave then that’s fine with me but I don’t.
Nobody is paying 100 mil for Tonali…Nobody.
Newcastle overpaid for him in the first place.
You can’t possibly dislike Tonali as much as you do and claim to be a Milan fan.
Are you sure you shouldn’t be posting on an Inter site?
I’m sorry, shouldn’t you be posting on a Como website???
And by the way Tonali is not a Milan player. He plays with Newcastle now.
Kessie was much more of an integral player in that Scudetto season, I don’t see people whining constantly about bringing him back.
He’ll end up at a London EPL club, he’s too expensive for Milan. Newcastle’s Saudi investment is starting to look dodgy, plus Newcastle as a city is a real shit-hole.
But do we really need another midfielder? With rabiot, ricci, jahari, rlc, fofana, possibly modric ……..
Most probably modric replacement in couple years
Healthy players needed for UEFA
At the time of his leaving Tonali was beginning to fill the shoes of Kessie. But we were lucky to offload him for the price we did, and mostly avoid the fallout from the gambling issue.
RLC, Gimenez, Musah + 20M
Gimenez + 45m
Done.
Another fairytale – Tonali is not coming back!