Sandro Tonali was the ultimate NUFC oxymoron - everything they needed, but little they miss

The curious case of Sandro Tonali - and why his exit isn’t all it appears to Newcastle United.

Sandro Tonali and Newcastle United lock horns for the first time on Saturday evening.

Sandro Tonali is an oxymoron. I mean, some might just drop off the oxy, but I’m keeping it polite here.

He was everything Newcastle United needed - once - then, in the same sentence, it’s fair to say they don’t really miss him now he’s gone. I suppose 90 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will largely define the latter part of that argument.

He arrived to great fanfare, and left to so little emotion. It kind of summed him up really, the smile-less Brescia boy whose facial expressions told a story many just preferred to ignore.

Fans loved to sing his name, they wanted to love him and connect so much. There was a real charm to having an Italian, a decent one, with a catchy-ish tune to bend his name around. But the warmth was missing. This was no Bruno Guimaraes connect - yes, I know that one’s dead now, too. While Bruno was sex on the beach, Sandro was a Wetherspoons’ Fosters, with a dash of Limoncello. NUFC and Tonali didn’t belong together, it was a marriage of convenience (AC Milan, the jilted lover), much like that drinks combo. You’ve heard of a turbo shandy, what about a turbo Tonali? I’ll get my coat.

This isn’t bitterness, by the way. I rated Tonali. To a point. I think he is a player who was never really given a true platform to show his best football in Eddie Howe’s setup. He was signed to be a box-to-box runner, with a wicked shot, not a sitting six. But, in truth, Tonali didn’t work in the desired role, he was ousted by Sean Longstaff, the man he was meant to replace. It was only when he was shoe-horned in to the deeper role did he show some real promise.

He became the legs that Bruno left behind, or maybe never had - beware Arsenal.

The pair became telepathic. When Bruno went, Sandro hoovered up, when Tonali rarely did, Guimaraes was there to cover. Bruno was the creator, the dictator, the brains, while Sandro was the legs, the determination, the speed. They worked amazingly together, so well, in fact, they broke a 70-year-domestic trophy curse.

But despite what some would have you believe, Tonali was never as good or as needed or valuable as Bruno. Plenty tried their best to tell people that he was in the six-month purple patch between gambling ban and monumental mental sulk. He went on to prove his champions wrong, just when he was needed to be the midfield maestro the song purveys, he went missing.

Bruno was gone, so Sandro was to become the main man, wasn’t he? He went on ghost mode.

And that kind of brings me around to the here and now. Had Tonali left for £100million last summer, I reckon many would have understood. But off the back of the season that was, which largely ended for the Italy international in the press mixed zone after Athletic Bilbao in the Champions League, it made no sense.

Was Tonali ever as good as he looked between December 2025 and maybe September 2026? Or is Tonali never as bad as he presented for most of last season? Only he will truly know that, Newcastle have an idea. His head was turned, he told everyone around him he wanted to go and he had eyes for the bright lights. But does he really have the technical skills to play the role everyone assumes he’s great at? I seen enough of him to know the answer is probably somewhere in-between.

He was good, never great. A saviour then became part of the problem.

For without Tonali, I do not believe we make history in March 2025 - his switch was the kick up the backside the 25/26 season and team (partly in decline, even then) needed.

But last season, his drop off, partly fuelled by the fact he knew he was leaving, proved that Newcastle don’t need him. They can do better - they are doing better. They spent the £100million on three players for the same position - one of whom is arguably of a better level anyway, and one - Sean Steur - looks to have a ceiling as high as the Sistine Chapel (calm down, Sandro) and vision more beautiful. Importantly, all three want to wear black and white. This new version of NUFC has no time or want for players who do not buy in. I’m pretty sure Spurs might end up realising this one, too, in time. For Tonali it only ever feels like a holding pattern - one which ends when he’s affordable enough to return to his one true love.