Sandro Tonali

Sandro Tonali (born 8 May 2000) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Newcastle United and the Italy national team. He is currently banned from all competitive footballing activities until 27 August 2024 for gambling offences.

He began his professional career at Brescia, winning Serie B in 2018–19. A year later he moved to Milan, initially on loan. He played 130 total games for Milan, and won Serie A in 2021–22. In 2023 he signed for Newcastle for a reported fee of €70 million, making him the most expensive Italian footballer of all time.

Brescia
Tonali made his professional debut for Brescia Calcio on 26 August 2017, aged 17, coming on as a substitute in the Serie B away match lost 2–1 against Avellino. On 28 April 2018 he scored his first professional career goal, in a 4–2 defeat against Salernitana in Serie B. He obtained 19 league appearances in total during his first season as a professional player, scoring two goals and providing two assists during the 2017–18 Serie B season.

The following season, Tonali won the Serie B title with Brescia, and achieved promotion to Serie A, featuring as a starter for the club throughout the entire 2018–19 season.

He made his Serie A debut on 25 August 2019, aged 19, in a 1–0 away win against Cagliari. On 29 September, he assisted Mario Balotelli's goal from a corner kick in a 2–1 away loss to Napoli; he also scored a goal during the match with a powerful shot from outside the area, which was disallowed by VAR, however, for a foul by Brescia's Dimitri Bisoli on Napoli's Nikola Maksimović. He scored his first Serie A goal on 26 October, netting a long-range free kick into the top corner from the left flank, which was the opening goal in an eventual 3–1 away defeat to Genoa.

2020–2021: loan
On 9 September 2020, Tonali joined AC Milan, on a season-long loan for €10 million with an option to buy for €15 million, plus bonuses worth €10 million. The player will earn a yearly wage of €2 million for five years. Three days later, he made his non-competitive debut in a friendly at Milanello against his previous club.

Tonali made his competitive debut for Milan on 17 September 2020, coming on as a substitute in the 83rd minute in a 2–0 victory against Shamrock Rovers FC in the second round of Europa League qualifying. He made his Serie A debut for Milan on 21 September 2020, coming off the bench in the 77th minute in a 2–0 victory over Bologna FC 1909 at the San Siro. Tonali finished the season with 37 appearances, 23 of those in the starting eleven.

2021–2022: Serie A champion
On 8 July 2021, Milan officially purchased Tonali's rights from Brescia and he signed a five-year contract with the club. He took a pay-cut to secure his childhood dream move to Milan and was praised by the fans on social media for this gesture.

Tonali scored his first goal with Milan's shirt on 29 August 2021 against Cagliari, a free kick that opened the scoresheet in eventual 4–1 win. On 3 October at Gewiss Stadium against Atalanta, Tonali dispossessed the ball from Remo Freuler and ran to the opponents box to score the second goal in eventual 3–2 victory for Milan. On 25 February 2022, Tonali assisted Rafael Leão's goal against Udinese, becoming the youngest midfielder to have scored more than one goal (two) and delivered more than one assist (two) in Serie A that season.

On 24 April as the match against Lazio was heading to 1–1 draw, Tonali scored the winner in the stoppage time, securing the lead for his team in Serie A table. On 8 May 2022, his 22nd birthday, Tonali scored an equalizing and a winning goal in the 3–1 away Serie A victory against Hellas Verona. The comeback victory brought Milan back on top of the Serie A following Inter's 48-hour stay there in a close championship race. Tonali is also the youngest midfielder to have scored five or more goals in Serie A that season (and the second-youngest among all players, older only than Bologna's Aaron Hickey). After 3–0 away win against Sassuolo on 22 May, Milan secured their first Scudetto in 11 years, In total, Tonali played 36 games in the campaign, scoring 5 goals and providing 3 assists.

Tonali's performance that season brought the attention and praise of renowned Italian football pundits, the likes of Paolo Di Canio, Roberto Donadoni and Fabio Capello, the latter went on to state that Tonali would have found a place in even the greatest of Milan's generation in the past.

Newcastle United
On 3 July 2023, Premier League club Newcastle United announced the signing of Tonali on a five-year contract, for an undisclosed fee. Reported to be around €70 million, this made Tonali the most expensive Italian player of all time.

On 18 July, he made his debut for Newcastle in Allan McGregor's testimonial match against Rangers. On 12 August, he scored the opening goal on his Premier League debut in a 5–1 win over Aston Villa.

On 18 October 2023, Newcastle announced Tonali was being investigated by the Italian Prosecutor's Office and the Italian Football Federation in relation to alleged illegal betting activity. On 26 October, he was banned from playing football for 10 months for breaching Italian betting regulations. This included a further eight months in gambling rehabilitation. This meant he would miss the rest of the season and UEFA Euro 2024. In March 2024 he was charged with misconduct in relation to alleged breaches of the Football Association's betting rules. The FA alleged that Tonali broke rules by placing bets on matches between 12 August and 12 October 2023. He was handed an additional two-month suspended ban by the FA for these breaches in May 2024, though will be allowed to return to football in August on the condition that no further breaches are made during the 2024–25 season.

Youth
With the Italy U19 he took part in the 2018 European Under-19 Championship, reaching the final of the tournament, where Italy lost 4–3 after extra time against Portugal.

He made his debut with the Italy U21 team on 21 March 2019, in a 0–0 friendly draw against Austria in Trieste. He took part in the 2019 European Under-21 Championship.

Senior
In November 2018, he was called for the first time to the senior national team by manager Roberto Mancini. After appearing for the Italy U21 side in a 0–0 away draw against Ireland on 10 October 2019, in a European qualifier, he was called up to the Italy senior squad once again the following day, for the team's Euro 2020 qualifiers against Greece and Liechtenstein.

Tonali made his senior international debut on 15 October 2019, coming on as a substitute in the 5–0 away win against Liechtenstein in Vaduz. His first start for Italy came in his following appearance on 15 November, a 3–0 away win over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Style of play
Regarded as a promising young Italian player in his position by the media, Tonali has been described by pundits as a regista, although he is a versatile midfielder, who is capable of playing in several roles. In his youth, he was often likened to Andrea Pirlo – who also started his career with Brescia – in terms of his movement, coordination, appearance, technical qualities, position, and playing style. A strong, fast, energetic, elegant, and creative midfielder, with excellent vision and an ability to read the game, Tonali usually plays in a central or defensive midfield role as deep-lying playmaker in a 4–3–3 formation,  Dictating play for Brescia with his passing in midfield, he set up two goals and scored two himself in his 19 appearances in Serie B during the 2017–18 season. Although naturally right-footed, he is known for his accurate long passing ability with either foot. Moreover, he is also adept at taking set-pieces. His tenacity and defensive contribution also allow him to play as a box-to-box midfielder, while his creativity, ability to find space, make late runs, and his penchant for driving forward with the ball even saw him deployed in a more advanced role on occasion at Milan under manager Stefano Pioli, namely as a mezzala.

In addition to Pirlo, Tonali has also cited Steven Gerrard and Luka Modrić as influences, and has also compared his own playing style to that of Gennaro Gattuso. In July 2019, he was named by UEFA as one of the 50 promising young players to watch for the 2019–20 season.

Personal life
Tonali has been an AC Milan fan since childhood.

Honours
Brescia
 * Serie B: 2018–19

AC Milan
 * Serie A: 2021–22

Italy U19
 * UEFA European Under-19 Championship runner-up: 2018

Individual
 * UEFA European Under-19 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2018
 * Serie B Footballer of the Year: 2018
 * Serie B Best Young Player: 2019
 * Italian Golden Boy Award: 2020
 * IFFHS Men's World Youth (U20) Team: 2020
 * Serie A Player of the Month: May 2022
 * Premio Bulgarelli Number 8: 2022
 * Serie A Team of the Season: 2022–23