Sandro Tonali’s future remains unresolved as Newcastle United continue to weigh the value of keeping one of Eddie Howe’s most important players against another potential major summer sale.
According to the Daily Mail, reporting the news on Thursday, Newcastle have rejected a second approach from Tottenham Hotspur for the Italy international.
It looks like Spurs did not improve their original £75-80 million offer, instead just asking Newcastle to reconsider their previous rejection. The request was swiftly turned down, as Newcastle somehow see such a huge fee not high enough to sell Tonali and profit from the sale of a player they initially bought for £55 million.
“Newcastle have rebuffed a second approach from Tottenham for Sandro Tonali,” the Daily Mail reported. “The North London club did not improve their original offer of £75million but asked the Magpies to reconsider.”
Football.London also reported that Tottenham returned with the same proposal, while Newcastle value Tonali closer to £100million and have not yet received an offer they consider acceptable, as ludicrous as that sounds.
Spurs gaffer Roberto De Zerbi has identified Tonali as his top midfield target, and the player is reportedly open to exploring his options after three seasons at St James’ Park. He seems nothing but locked into moving elsewhere, if not now, in a year or two, so the Magpies would do good capitalizing at the peak of his value rather than waiting for a what-if that might never become a reality.
Manchester City and Arsenal are also monitoring the situation, while Manchester United’s long-term interest is said to have cooled.