Newcastle United may have unearthed a ‘bargain’ transfer that Eddie Howe ‘loves’
Last season, Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe ‘fell in love’ with a young midfielder named Sandro Tonali. And on Saturday evening, 52,000 Geordies did too.
The 23-year-old was handed a somewhat unexpected full Premier League debut against Aston Villa at St James’ Park. A niggling injury to Sean Longstaff in pre-season saw Eddie Howe sway from his usual process of easing new signings into the side, as he suggested he would in his pre-match press conference.
It was a bold call that took precisely six minutes to pay dividends as Tonali stylishly slid in Newcastle’s opening goal. Any perceived lack of enthusiasm regarding his £52million move from boyhood club AC Milan was washed away as the Leazes net rippled, leaving Tonali beaming with his new team-mates.
“The goal helps, it builds confidence and he certainly looks at home in the midfield, I thought his style was really effective for us,” Howe said afterwards.
“He’s an incredible technician, very good with both feet and it was great to see him score. It was a great ball by Anthony [Gordon] and it was a perfect start to the game for us.
“We pursued him for a long-long time, paid a big fee for him because I fell in love with watching him play last year.”
“He is an outstanding talent, he can do a little bit of everything. Very similar to our other midfielders, he’s got a combination of a lot of attributes that will suit the Premier League.
“This is one game, I don’t want to go over the top and put more pressure on him, but it’s a very good start and I’m just pleased he looked confident in the shirt and the fans have certainly taken to him, which is great to see.”
After Tonali set the pace early on, Newcastle would end up strolling to a 5-1 win on the opening day with the Italian having a hand in three of the goals. A delicious whipped ball into the box led to United’s second stroked home by Alexander Isak before his first-time pass released Harvey Barnes to set-up Callum Wilson for Newcastle’s fourth.
The Italian swaggered around the St James’ Park turf with the confidence of a player who had played 100 Premier League games, let alone not even 100 minutes.
Passing right-foot, left-foot, long-range, short-range, tackling, this 23-year-old appeared to have it all in what was a complete midfield performance. Tonali was everywhere, even taking risks after the game was effectively won, receiving the ball under pressure and dispatching cross-field passes that left Villa unable to cope.
If Howe fell in love with Tonali during an extensive scouting process throughout last season, the rest of the Toon Army certainly did on August 12.
Tonali put in the best St James’ Park debut witnessed since Moussa Sissoko against Chelsea in February 2013. And with that is a sobering reminder that this was just one game and it’s important not to get carried away.
But if Tonali can deliver performances like that on any sort of consistent basis, that £52million Italian record transfer will quickly start to look like a serious bargain in today’s market.
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