Newcastle United Sandro Tonali continued his return to the game while in action for Italy on Friday night.
The midfielder has impressed during the early pages of the second chapter in his Newcastle career after ten months out of action due to a betting ban.
Tonali delighted sections of the club’s support in his first appearance since October during the Carabao Cup penalty shootout win over Nottingham Forest last month, before impressing Eddie Howe with a brief cameo during the victory against Tottenham before the international break.
While the former AC Milan midfielder does need to be afforded time to get back up to speed following such a long break, Tonali appeared to take things up a level while in action for the Azzurri.
Not only did the 24-year-old produce a stunning assist for Federico Dimarco in their comeback win over France in the Nations League on Friday night, Italy boss Luciano Spalletti was delighted with another side of his game.
Luciano Spalletti names the “sensational” thing Sandro Tonali did for Italy against France
Reflecting on Tonali’s outing at the Parc des Princes, the former Napoli coach hailed his energy despite being out of action for so long.
Spalletti said (via Pazzi di Fanta): “Tonali? Magnificent match. We were afraid he wouldn’t be able to play 90 minutes and in the last 5 he made two sensational recoveries.”
Newcastle insiders have been proven right about Sandro Tonali
Clearly, the test for Tonali will be to make a telling impact across a whole season. Once the adrenaline of his return settles down, it will be fascinating to see how the midfielder operates.
Still, insiders at Newcastle were understood to have viewed the Italian as looking “electric” in training before his return to full-time action.
Playing first-team football at the highest of level is no doubt a different kind of test entirely but, so far, they have been proven right.
Having Tonali back is such a big boost.
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