Pioli and Tonali Milan

Pioli says Tonali is a ‘serious loss’ who must be replaced properly

AC Milan coach Sandro Tonali has admitted that the loss of Sandro Tonali to Newcastle is a serious one and he needs to be replaced adequately. 

Speaking during his first press conference of the new season (via Milan News), the coach was understandably asked about what is a major sale in the history of the club.

Milan have never received as much money for a player as they have received for Tonali. The previous highest was €67 million for Kaka when he joined Real Madrid in 2009, but around €70m will be making its way to Milan from Newcastle.

Pioli wants to see that money spent wisely on a replacement given just how important a player Tonali was in his team.

“It’s a serious loss from a technical point of view and we’ll have to replace him properly. Good situation for both sides for him, difficult to do something different,” Pioli said.

Milan have already signed Ruben Loftus-Cheek and it is very possible that Tijjani Reijnders will also be joining Milan from AZ Alkmaar in the next couple of weeks. Yunus Musah is also being heavily linked with a move from Valencia.

Tags AC Milan Sandro Tonali Stefano Pioli

9 Comments

  1. Take an exclusive look at the MoneyBall© method from wizard Magic Beane, available on Windows and MacOS.

    Sandro played 4 000 minutes, scored 2 goals with 10 assists. Ruben played 2000 minutes, with 2 assists. Musah and Reijnders are too expensive, so let’s go for some random Ukrainian player and some random French player with 2000 minutes, 2 goals and 8 assists combined. Now you have your replacement for Sandro, you’re welcome.

    Let’s see with Serie A if we can line-up 13 players now.

    1. If Sandro Tonali played in Chelsea, with that quality of competition in the midfield, he also would have played 2000 minutes.
      Compare Enzo Fernandez, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Gallagher, Zakaria, Chukwuemeka with Bennacer, Krunic, Pobega and Vranckx.

        1. You were comparing Tonali and Loftus Cheek numbers. It isn’t Apples for Apples comparison because the competition in the squad is not on the same level.
          Kessie on average played over 4000 minutes for Milan but at Barca he barely got a 1000.
          The competition level in the squad at those clubs is much higher than at Milan.
          And we shall see once the seasons in serie A and EPL start if Newcastle is right to spend 70 million on Tonali.

          1. Yeah I got your point, I was making fun of this moneyball stuff, from what I saw in the movie. Nobody knows how it works anyway.

            So Ruben is the replacement for Tonali. The latter costs 20M, the former costs 70M. That’s a huge gap in valuation so it says a lot about talent and potential. Tonali is still young and he seized every opportunity he had until now, with Brescia, Milan and la Nazionale. Ruben played sparsely for both Chelsea and England despite many opportunities. Hopefully Ruben provides great performances but Sandro is surely a huge loss.

          2. @Bartholomeo
            “It’s a serious loss from a technical point of view and we’ll have to replace him properly.”
            Those are Pioli words. Loftus Cheek is already in the squad, so obviously he is not the Tonali replacement.
            Also, just because one player goes for a lot of money and another for less doesn’t mean there is a huge gap in quality.
            ManUtd spent almost a 100 million on Sancho, while Napoli hot Kvara for 10 million. Tell me who is the better player.
            You can’t just go off by price tag.

    2. RLC not tonali replacement . He is just back up if 4231 but can be starter if 433 with reijnders , yunus/domingues due to bennacer injury. Reijnders not expensive and AC Milan will buy him . 2 DMF will coming , one of that reijnders the other between yunus or domingues. Changing formation to 433 also reborn adili & pobega because both are good as mezzala

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