Stefan Borson: This is why Newcastle may have agreed ‘secret’ Sandro Tonali deal
Sandro Tonali’s long-term future looks set to be with Newcastle United after an update has emerged.
Newcastle signed Tonali for £55million from AC Milan in the summer of 2023 before he was banned for 10 months for betting breaches.
It was reported earlier this month Newcastle were in talks with Tonali over a new deal, but The Daily Mail revealed on 22 October the 25-year-old signed a “secret” contract extension during his suspension.
Tonali has agreed a deal until 2029 at St James’ Park, with Eddie Howe’s side holding the option of a further 12 months.
Newcastle faced ‘serious’ Sandro Tonali situation
Former Man City financial adviser Stefan Borson exclusively told Football Insider Newcastle likely didn’t announce Tonali’s extension at the time to avoid it looking like he was being rewarded during his ban.
Tonali has been a standout performer for Newcastle over the past year, proving they were right to extend his deal.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, Borson said: “It is hard to know exactly what went on there. I guess you’d keep it secret possibly because it looks like you’re rewarding a player who’s been suspended for a year.
“I mean, it’s not a great look. The player was just bought for a lot of money. I wonder whether it had certain options in it, i.e. he had to come back to a certain level before he could get the extra year.
“I doubt that they would have just unilaterally said ‘Here, have another year’ at some very significant contract because nobody knew whether the player after a year out for something so serious would be able to regain his form.
“He obviously has done and, therefore, you would want that contract in place, but you don’t know that that’s going to happen when you have a conversation with the player when he’s in a one-year suspension.”
Tonali has recently been linked with a move to Juventus, but the Italy international’s contract situation places Newcastle in a strong position.
Newcastle likely had option when to trigger Tonali deal
Borson believes Newcastle could have had the option to exercise Tonali’s contract extension at any point over the past year.
“So, why would they keep it secret?” said Borson.
“I think there’s the optics of it means that you don’t want to be seen to be rewarding a very serious matter. We know that the way football is dealt with in these situations is to be very understanding and that’s great, but I don’t think you want to see it as a reward, so you’d keep it quiet, you’d see how he recovers.
“I suspect it was an option as I say that Newcastle had to exercise, with their ability to choose when to exercise it.
“Probably the trade-off was that they continued to pay him during his suspension without penalty maybe, or some kind of proportion of it, some kind of deal around that because obviously Tonali was in breach of his contract by I assume not disclosing the fact that he had breached those rules in the period before signing the contract.
“Those are the sorts of considerations that go on with these sort of tricky suspensions and potentially very expensive situations if the player doesn’t come back to form.”
Tonali has started in 10 of his 11 appearances for Newcastle this season, emphasing his importance to the side.
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