Over the last few days, all the talk surrounding Newcastle United has been about potential exits. It is almost a relief that one of those long-running sagas has now come to an end and the football club can focus on the future.
Of course, that also means that Newcastle United have been weakened significantly and will need to find a way to fill the void being left behind. And taking the financial constraints into consideration, that is not going to be an easy task.
Tottenham Hotspur are one club who don’t seem to have any financial issues despite finishing 17th in the Premier League in back-to-back seasons.
They are clearly very serious this summer to avoid repeating another poor campaign. The Mateus Fernandes move had been their record, agreed just this week. But now, they have broken that already with a historic Sandro Tonali deal.
Tottenham agree record transfer deal with Newcastle United for Sandro Tonali
According to Fabrizio Romano, Tottenham have agreed a record deal to sign Tonali from Newcastle United. The Italian journalist has given the move his famous ‘HERE WE GO’.
The agreement between the clubs has now been closed and also on the player’s side with Tonali. The fee is higher than the £85 million paid by Spurs to sign Fernandes.
It is a disappointment to see Tonali’s time at Newcastle United coming to an end. But after how the saga had moved over the last few days, most fans had been expecting this.
So, the announcement from Romano does not come as any surprise. Perhaps it is interesting how quickly it got done. A lot of people were expecting it to drag on, like the Alexander Isak to Liverpool saga from last summer. Credit to Tottenham Hotspur, who are showing plenty of ambition right now.
How will Newcastle replace Tonali, who will join Tottenham?
Replacing Tonali is not going to be an easy task, that is for certain. Midfielders like him are a rarity, especially in the modern game when so much is based on physicality.
So, the Magpies might have a tough time finding a like-for-like replacement for Tonali. Perhaps they could look for a shuffle in the middle of the park and replace him with a different kind of midfielder.
At the end of the day, the club do need to ring in some changes. They did finish 12th in the Premier League last season. For all of the quality players they had, that is nearly not good enough.
Over the last few days, we have seen Newcastle United get linked with midfielders like Lamine Camara, Johan Manzambi and more. Expect a few more names to crop up now that the Tonali deal has been agreed.
Interestingly, earlier in the day, there were reports suggesting Newcastle United had put in a failed bid trying to sign Archie Gray from Tottenham.
