Sandro Tonali nonsense in the Italian media now corrected | OneFootball

Sandro Tonali is preparing for two massive matches with Italy.

World Cup qualifying is on the line, only the top team in the group automatically qualifies and in their five team (eight match) group, Norway have 15 points after playing five of their eight group matches, Italy on nine points after four group games.

Basically, Italy need to win all of their last four group games to have a realistic chance of finishing top of the group. They play Estonia away on Saturday and Israel at home on Tuesday.

They lost 3-0 away in Norway and saw their manager sacked, Luciano Spalletti replaced by Rino Gattuso.

Gennaro (Rino) Gattuso is Sandro Tonali’s idol, having been a star for both Italy and AC Milan, the team Tonali has supported all his life.

Sandro Tonali interviewed by Vivo Azzurro, which is the official media outlet for the Italian national side, quotes translated by Football Italia:

“We are enjoying ourselves in training, as Gattuso makes us work hard, but have fun too, which is important.

“After [defeat to] Norway, every game has become even more important, so we know how much is at stake and we’re ready to give our all every time.

“We found someone [in Gattuso] who loves to work hard and sweat for the shirt.

“The intensity levels are so high in training, it almost feels like a match.

“He passed on the desire to train hard and become super-competitive again.

“In the past, we’d get lost so easily, problems arose at the first sign of trouble.

“Now we’re all back to hitting hard.

“His level of focus and concentration is so high in training, that he makes sure you feel the same way too.

“[When I was a child] I was given a mug with Gattuso on it and I had breakfast with that for four or five years. It got smashed, which was disastrous, but I managed to piece it back together, and I still have it.”

Sandro Tonali asked about the comments from Paul Scholes who recently said that the Newcastle United star was the best midfielder in the Premier League:

“I saw that, [Tottenham and Italy goalkeeper Guglielmo] Vicario told me straight away.

“When you receive compliments like that from such great former players, it is very pleasing, you are almost taken by surprise. It’s lovely.”

Sandro Tonali asked if he thinks he will ever return to play in Serie A:

“It is difficult to say.

“You never can know what you might want to do or what could happen.

“I always say yes, because as an Italian, you always have a possibility even if it’s 1 per cent of coming back to Serie A.

“Maybe not right now, as I am in a moment where I’ve found my way and it’s all going well [at Newcastle United].

“I’d never close the door to Serie A because it is my country and the league is getting better all the time.

“The teams are stronger and you see the technical level of Serie A rising.”

The thing is, when Sandro Tonali gives any quotes in Italy, he is always asked the question about whether he intends to ever play in Italy again.

Ever since he left AC Milan for Newcastle United, football fans in Italy and the Italian media have been devastated by the loss to Serie A of one of their very best young talents.

The Italian media since summer 2023 have constantly ran baseless stories about Sandro Tonali set to come back and play in Serie A, embarrassing really. Making stuff up, simply because they know this is what football fans in Italy want to hear, that Sandro Tonali will turn his back on Newcastle United and the Premier League, return to Serie A.

As mentioned above, every single time he is interviewed in Italy, Sandro Tonali is asked if he thinks he might come back to play in Serie A.

Every time, the Newcastle United midfielder gives basically the same answer.

Sandro Tonali always says that one day he would love to play in Serie A once again, a clearly emotional response that he is bound to say, BUT that he is happy at Newcastle United and indeed loving it there, playing for NUFC and competing in the best and most challenging domestic league.

Yet every single time this is twisted by the vast majority of media in Italy, they report it as though Tonali’s quotes mean that there is a possibility of him coming back to Serie A in the very near future. Which is absolutely not what he has said in any previous interview since joining Newcastle United AND certainly not what he is saying/meaning in this very latest interview.

I can almost forgive the Italian media for doing this, understandable they are so desperate to report in this way on Sandro Tonali, knowing the football fans in Italy are desperate to be fed this.

I can’t though forgive media in the UK, who cynically run this twisted angle, whilst knowing full well it isn’t what Sandro Tonali has said/meant, he very definitely hasn’t said he might leave Newcastle any time soon for a Serie A club.

The truth is anyway, that as Paul Scholes points out, Sandro Tonali is the best midfielder in the Premier League. No Serie A club could possibly afford the £100m+ transfer fee and associated wages, even if for some bizarre reason Newcastle United were willing to sell him.

It is a positive that some of those reporting on Italian football, such as Football Italia, do report the truth, not just twist the meaning of quotes to make it into an invented imminent return of Sandro Tonali to Serie A headline. The intro to their piece on the latest quotes from the Newcastle United star, stated; ‘Sandro Tonali reveals why he would always consider a return to Serie A even if ‘not right now,’ his reaction to being called the best midfielder in the Premier League, and working with idol Gennaro Gattuso.’