According to Fabrizio Romano, Sandro Tonali’s agent will travel to Romania on Friday to complete a medical with Newcastle United staff that have flown in from Tyneside.
After Dan Ashworth and Steve Nickson were snapped in Milan by the Italian press yesterday, Romano revealed that we’d reached a ‘full agreement’ with AC over a transfer fee and add-ons, meaning the last hurdle was a medical now the midfielder had already accepted a six-year contract worth around £7m-per-year.
In his latest update, Romano reports that Tonali’s agent – Giuseppe Riso – did not travel to Romania last night, as his client was busy playing in Italy’s opening game of the U21 European Champions; a 2-1 defeat to France. Instead, he spent the night sorting the ‘final details’ of his contract and will land in the next ’24 to 48 hours’ to oversee his medical alongside Newcastle staff. Essentially, it’s all but done and should be confirmed once the formalities are completed over the weekend.
As for James Maddison, a host of outlets are now reporting that a deal for the Leicester City star is in doubt, despite him being considered a ‘top target’ of Eddie Howe’s over the past 12 months.
Sky Sports state that we’ll have to ‘reassess the Maddison situation’, as we ‘could not afford’ to sign him and Tonali if the Foxes continue to demand in excess of £50m for the England international. A timely ploy from Newcastle to bring down the asking price? Who knows, it just feels like negotiation tactics are at play now we’re assessing other targets after spending big on Tonali.
The Guardian also reported on Maddison last night, stating that Spurs are the new ‘frontrunners’ as Newcastle’s ‘priorities lie elsewhere.’ Once again, are we having second thoughts on Maddison or is this us testing the player and selling club? As if to say, if he can’t decide who he’d rather join and Leicester won’t reduce their fee for a player out of contract in 12 months time, we’ll walk away and look elsewhere. We have a history of doing that under new owners, as deals for Botman, Isak and Gordon were on/off, yet ultimately went our way following a long pursuit.
The same piece (from The Guardian’s London-based reporter Jason Steinberg) states that Spurs aren’t expected to make an offer anytime soon. If we know this, it’s arguably in our interests to back off and call Leicester’s bluff, as they have no leverage as a relegated side demanding huge money for a player who’ll leave on a free in 12 months time. The longer they wait, the more his price comes down and the less time they have to reinvest into their squad ahead of a season in the Championship.
The Mail also report that Newcastle have ‘turned their attentions to Tonali’ instead in a piece that names Spurs as the new favourites for his signature. It’s clear that Maddison and Tonali are completely different players, so that’s another ‘interesting’ spin that emerged last night when it’s well documented that we’re in the market for two midfielders.
So, there’s a few theories in response to what I’ve read on Maddison over the past 24 hours, although another plausible explanation is that we simply prefer Dominik Szoboszlai; the younger and potentially cheaper RB Leipzig star who has been mentioned previously as a potential alternative to the attacker.
We shall see, but it certainly looks Sandro Tonali will sign over the dotted line in the next few days!
Who said Maddison was to target?
He does not fit into the team or the club culture.
Got Spurs written all over him.
BillytheFish(Quote)
When Chelsea signed Mudryk for 80 million they gave him an 8 year contract that got around FFP as the fee was spread over the 8 years. Is that not applicable to Tonali who is being signed reportedly for 50 million on a 6 year contract, i.e. 8.3 million a year?? One rule for Chelsea and another for everyone else??
Johnno(Quote)