Sandro Tonali is preparing for two big matches with Italy.
World Cup qualification is on the line, only the best team in the group automatically qualifies and in their five-team group (eight games), Norway have 15 points after playing five of their eight group games, Italy on nine points after four group games.
In fact, Italy need to win all their last four group matches to have a realistic chance of finishing top of the group. They play against Estonia on Saturday and at home against Israel on Tuesday.
They lost 3-0 in Norway and saw their manager sacked, Luciano Spalletti replaced by Rino Gattuso.
Gennaro (Rino) Gattuso is Sandro Tonali’s idol and was a star for both Italy and AC Milan, the team Tonali supported all his life.
Sandro Tonali interviewed by I live in Bluethe official media outlet for the Italian national side, quotes translated by Football Italy:
“We are having fun in training because Gattuso makes us work hard, but also has fun, which is important.
“After [defeat to] Norway, every match has become even more important, so we know how much is at stake and we are ready to give everything every time.
“We have found someone [in Gattuso] who likes to work hard and sweat for the shirt.
“The intensity levels during training are so high, it almost feels like a competition.
“He passed on his desire to train hard and become super competitive again.
“We used to get lost so easily that trouble would arise at the first sign of trouble.
“Now we’re all hitting hard again.
“His focus and concentration level is so high during training that he ensures that you experience that too.
“[When I was a child] I got a mug with Gattuso on it and I had breakfast with that for four or five years. It was destroyed, which was disastrous, but I managed to put it back together, and I still have it.
Sandro Tonali asked about comments from Paul Scholes, who recently said the Newcastle United star was the best midfielder in the Premier League:
“I saw that, [Tottenham and Italy goalkeeper Guglielmo] Vicario told me right away.
“When you receive such compliments from such great former players, it is very pleasant, you are almost surprised. It is wonderful.”
Sandro Tonali asked if he thinks he will ever return to play in Serie A:
“It’s hard to say.
“You can never know what you might want to do or what might happen.
“I always say yes, because as an Italian you always have a possibility, even if it is only 1 percent to return to Serie A.
“Maybe not now, because I’m at a point where I’ve found my way and everything is going well [at Newcastle United].
“I would never close the door on Serie A because it is my country and the league is getting better and better.
“The teams are stronger and you see the technical level of Serie A increasing.”
The thing is, whenever Sandro Tonali makes statements in Italy, he is always asked whether he plans to play in Italy ever again.
Since he left AC Milan for Newcastle United, football fans in Italy and the Italian media have been devastated by the loss of one of their very best young talents in Serie A.
Since the summer of 2023, the Italian media has continuously spread unsubstantiated stories about Sandro Tonali about to come back and play in Serie A, which is actually embarrassing. Make things up simply because they know that this is what football fans in Italy want to hear: that Sandro Tonali will turn his back on Newcastle United and the Premier League and return to Serie A.
As mentioned above, every time Sandro Tonali is interviewed in Italy, he is asked if he thinks he might end up playing in Serie A again.
The Newcastle United midfielder gives basically the same answer every time.
Sandro Tonali always says that he would like to play in Serie A again one day, a clearly emotional response that he will undoubtedly say, BUT that he is happy at Newcastle United and indeed loves it there, playing for NUFC and competing in the best and most challenging domestic league.
But every time this is twisted by the vast majority of the media in Italy, they report it as if Tonali’s quotes mean there is a possibility of him returning to Serie A in the very near future. That is absolutely not what he has said in any previous interview since joining Newcastle United AND certainly not what he says/means in this very last interview.
I can almost forgive the Italian media for doing this. Understandably they are so desperate to report on Sandro Tonali in this way, knowing that football fans in Italy are desperate to be fed this.
However, I cannot forgive the media in Britain for cynically using this distorted angle, knowing full well that this is not what Sandro Tonali said/intended. He certainly hasn’t said he’ll be leaving Newcastle for a Serie A club anytime soon.
Either way, the truth is that, as Paul Scholes points out, Sandro Tonali is the best midfielder in the Premier League. No Serie A club could afford the €100 million-plus transfer fee and associated salary, even if Newcastle United wanted to sell him for some bizarre reason.
It is positive that some of those who cover Italian football, such as Football Italia, are reporting the truth and not just twisting the meaning of quotes to make it into a fabricated impending return of Sandro Tonali to the Serie A headline. The intro to their piece on the Newcastle United star’s latest quotes read; ‘Sandro Tonali reveals why he would always consider a return to Serie A even if ‘not now’, his reaction to being named the best midfielder in the Premier League and working with idol Gennaro Gattuso.’
Sandro Tonali is now Newcastle United’s best player and he repeatedly says how much he loves life at Newcastle United, both on and off the pitch. It could remain that way for a long time, until Sandro makes a sentimental return to Serie A perhaps in his mid-30s…
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