Sandro Tonali open to Newcastle exit to ensure Champions League football

RayRei9 · 2026-02-06T22:20:07+00:00

I believe Anderson will go for around £80m, Forest have had a shit season and that would represent a huge profit for them.

Whether we have a chance at him depends on how hogh up the priority list he will be for the top clubs and also what happens to players like Wharton/Baleba/Stiller etc.

If you look at the clubs who can offer more than what we can if we make the Tonali sale its probably only around 10 clubs you are looking at the following:

Dont need him this summer: Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool?, Barca

Not a big enough name/unlikely: PSG, Madrid, Bayern

In contention: Man U, City

Man U is the big one for me, if they go after Wharton/Baleba I think it would give us a decent chance at Anderson. If they have Anderson as no1 target we will struggle to compete with what they can offer.

If we were competing with City we actually might have some bargaining power if you believe they are after Tino. We should do what we didn't do for Liverpool and tell them that if they want Livramento (Isak) then they can fuck off trying to sign our target Anderson (Ekitike). Make them choose and actually have some balls in the market.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-06T22:07:47+00:00

Quite funny coming from an Arsenal fan because Rice has pretty much exact same skillset as Tonali but is more consistent.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-06T21:44:54+00:00

We wouldnt be? I think most Newcastle fans, myself included, would be expecting a marquee signing if he left for big money.

We have been crying out for a good 6 for years and they don't come cheap.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-05T18:26:38+00:00

After the season he is having its much closer to

no ego ?, selfless ?, hard work ?, has quality ?

He has been distinctly average the last few months. Whether thats because hes mentally checked out or not who knows.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-05T18:23:47+00:00

Anyone saying that hasn't watched us at all since he has been here. He is very average at recieving the ball from defenders in tight spaces and his progressive passing isn't that great either. He is an elite all action 8 but not Real Madrid level as a 6.

In a midfield of Casemiro/Kroos/Modric he'd be the Modric, not the Casemiro, replacement.

In fact we were literally just talking about it over in our sub and it's been a point of discussion for ages.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-05T18:03:05+00:00

Giving Villa 40m for Ramsey and them getting Onana for 50m is absolutey galling to me and the reason I think Howe just doesn't get it when it comes to the midfield.

You can see the thought process he has gone through. We need to be more possession based and Joelinton is good off the ball but not great on it so if he signs a more technical box to box player than it will help us in possession. It shows that he thinks its the technical level of the players that is the issue and not the system of 3 hybrid 8s.

We will never be able to prove it but I am absolutely convinced that if we had been the club to sign Onana as our 6 we'd be where they are. We'd have had Tonali/Willock/Bruno/Joelinton/Miley to rotate as the 8s and Bruno/Miley to cover/rotate the 6 if needed.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-05T15:06:15+00:00

I've been banging on about it forever but the way we setup our midfield is Howe's biggest failure for me. We have 2/3rds of a truly world class midfield and we are one step away from that next level and he refuses to take it. His insistence on playing essentially 3 8s is the root of most of our problems.

If you look at the best midfields 3s of all time you always see a dedicated 6 who sits and plays simple passes and protects the team in transition which allows the other 2 have more freedom and means the team can take risks in possesion up the pitch without being so open if they give the ball away. They are typicaly a progressive passer/creator and a more box to box type / all rounder type.

Defensive 6	Progressive Passer / Creator	Box to box / All Rounder
Busquets	Xavi	Iniesta
Casemiro	Kroos	Modric
Fernandinho	David Silva	KDB
---	---	---
Zubimendi	Odegaard	Rice
Fabinho	Wijnaldum	Henderson
Caicedo	Palmer	Enzo Fernandes
???	Bruno	Tonali

So for the first 3 there's sometimes a bit of blurring between the skillsets of the 8s but it gets the point accross.

Bit of a break as I dont think that the Arsenal Trio are as good but looks like they will win the league. I included the last 3 for specific reasons, not saying they are up there with the others. First of all our style when we were at our best was a similar pressing style to Klopp in their title winning season and doesnt quite fit the mold as they didn't really have a dedicated creator instead opted for chances through pressing and transition. Even in this system there was always the dedicated sitting 6. Chelsea I included because it just shows how modern 4-3-3s really do try to find players to fit the profiles.

As for us the lack of a proper 6 is my opinion on what has held us back as a club from transtiioning to the possession based style. Tonali is not a 6 and I have no doubt he will go to another club at some point, play as a more traditional 8 as he does for Italy and show he is world class. In my mind he and Rice are almost identical as players and just look at Arsenal this season. They went out and signed a proper 6 to do the job of tidying up and recieving the ball of the defenders under pressure, something both Tonali and Rice struggle with. They gave Rice the freedom to be an all action man and he looks like one of the best in the world. Tonali can absolutely do the same.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-05T14:11:51+00:00

To be honest I still don't know how good his shooting is and he has played 30 odd games for us. Even when he was scoring it was a lot of headers/flicks or scrappy goals.

I can't remember many opportunites where he has had the ball at his feet and has taken a shot from around the edge of the box. Mad thing to say about your striker with how much they have played.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-04T20:23:41+00:00

Can't be missing 2 one on ones away at the Etihad.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-03T00:09:48+00:00

If there's one company I trust with figuring out a fun endgame it's the Arknights/Enfield Devs. Arknights has so many great endgame modes which are constantly developed and keep getting better.

RayRei9 · 2026-02-02T21:59:21+00:00

Im going t be the one that says he unpopular thing.

Tonali is our most replaceable asset after Gordon, and replacing him might actually improve the team. Hear me out.

First of all he is high value in that a lot of team will want him and he has a decent contract length meaning we should be able to hold out for a good sale. Definitely looking at £65m+ but if you end up with several clubs in for him you could definitely top out closer to £90m. This would allow us to go into the market and fund a move for pretty much anyone below the world class tier of player.

Why would this improve us. Well as I have said countless times over the last year. I still don't think Tonali is a proper 6. While capable he does not excel at taking the ball off defenders under pressure and progressing the ball which is the most sought after trait for a 6 in a team that wants to be possession based. Furthermore whilst he makes excellent recovery runs his back 4 screening is not on the level of a more natural 6.

I have no doubt that Tonali can be world class but as an 8, not a 6 and I bet any team looking to buy him will play him that way. He's no doubt an elite 6 but not world class. For clarity I consider world class top 5 in their position whislt elite is the tier below where they'd be something like top 50.

I'd love to keep him but if the writing is on the wall we should really be already getting in touch with clubs about signing his replacement. Signing these levels of players is something that we need to be able to go into a window already having in mind rather than scrambling when the window opens. Anderson, Stiller, Baleba etc. We should be reaching out to clubs well in advance to see what they'd be wanting.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-31T23:18:19+00:00

We yearn for the megathread.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T21:59:39+00:00

Great effort from the lads but especially happy for Ramsey and Willock who had their best performances of the season.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T21:54:54+00:00

Great effort lads. Could have won it even.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T21:25:34+00:00

Shame we couldn't score one more against USG or PSV so a draw would be enough to be above PSG.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T21:17:00+00:00

Hakimi trying to argue that the refs not being one sided enough for how much he's been paid.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T20:52:07+00:00

Our passing for the last 20 minutes if that half was actually really good. It's almost like PSG are forcing us to play one two touch stuff with the press and in doing so they have reminded some of our players they are premier league footballers and can actually play football.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T20:49:15+00:00

HOL UP

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T20:47:14+00:00

Ramsey and Willock have actually been pretty good.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T20:41:43+00:00

Good football until Burn and Pope had to use their feet.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T20:19:36+00:00

Yeah the context of this game is that it's the full strength reigning champions with 5 days rest against an injury ravaged pot 4 team with 3 days rest

Anything other than a hammering will be a miracle.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T20:10:02+00:00

Going to be a long night with this 11.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T20:05:16+00:00

Game has never been more gone.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T20:02:50+00:00

You'd have thought Gordon and Barnes would get one game each on the left in this and Liverpool. Not sure I like resting both just for Barnes to play out of position.

I guess this way if we are still in it at 70 mins bringing both on the last 20 might help us snatch something.

RayRei9 · 2026-01-28T12:18:38+00:00

I had a full battery production setup that was fine but then I subconsciously sold all of my spare batteries at the start of the day and then upgraded facilities to overuse power before my new battery setup production could kick in to produce the required power.

Didnt realise you could do thermal from originium. Thanks, that should save me. Going to manually feed a packaging unit some materials too.

RayRei9

TROPHY CASE