Newcastle United lost its second member of last season’s XI with Sandro Tonali going to Tottenham less than three weeks into the summer transfer window.
The deal is worth up to £100 million, roughly €117 million, and will become a club-record signing for Tottenham if completed.
Now that he’s a Spur and part of NUFC no more, Tonali has made clear why the move to Tottenham became so difficult to stop.
Speaking to Sky in Italy before flying to London for his medical, Tonali said Roberto De Zerbi played
a “huge role” in his decision to leave Newcastle for Tottenham.
Tonali said the move was not only about soccer, but also about his family and lifestyle after three years on Tyneside, a place he said he simply had to leave.
“It was also a lifestyle and family choice,” Tonali said. “We had been in Newcastle for three years, and last year our lives changed, our son was born, so we decided to completely change our lives.”
Given what he said, it’s fair to infer that Tonali had made his choice of leaving a year ago… Tonali, however, insisted that he is leaving Newcastle on good terms and said both sides worked to find the right outcome, which makes sense if he really let the club know as soon as last year that he was about to bolt out.
“We had an agreement with Newcastle and we parted on very good terms,” Tonali said. “They wanted the best for me and we wanted to do the best deal for Newcastle.”
The sale should allow Newcastle to strengthen multiple positions across the pitch, and it joins the one of Anthony Gordon and the possible sale of Bruno to Arsenal.
