Newcastle release Sandro Tonali exclusive - "I'm a new player"
by Jaspar Shepherdson · 27 August 2024, 20:11
Newcastle United have released an exclusive sit-down interview with Sandro Tonali, sharing the Italian's first words in 2024 ahead of his return to football at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night.
Back in October 2023, Tonali was banned from all competitive footballing activities for 10 months after breaching Italian betting regulations, which he has described as one of the hardest periods of his life.
"It was very difficult in October, November and December, those first three months...but thankfully I have a great team behind me. I'm feeling good now."
As part of his sanction, Tonali was ordered to return home to his native Italy 16 times to participate in a therapeutic plan and educational programme, which he attributes to helping him overcome the difficulty of his situation.
"In the first three months, I met a lot of people with ordinary jobs, especially in Newcastle, who had this problem and who had never spoken before now. When the articles came out and my problem was made public, they decided to get help and stop bottling things up so this made me very happy."
When asked about more about his experience over the last ten months, an emotional Tonali expressed his immense gratitude for the Magpies for standing by him during this long period.
"I was lucky enough to find all the people who work here at Newcastle were always by my side and always really close to me and this really helped me a lot. I had constant support from everyone, from the coach, from JT (Jason Tindall), and everyone else in the team...there isn't a single person who didn't show me their support."
Tonali also expressed immense thanks to the Newcastle fans for their backing, who "gave me the same love they'd have given me if I'd been here for ten years."
"I want to play for the fans first, and then me second. The support is crazy, I don't think there's another city where these fans are crazy for one player that can't play for ten months."
The 24-year-old singled out Joelinton and Bruno Guimaraes as two of the players who helped him cope over the first few months of the suspension, including the night before the 2-2 draw away to Wolves when the pair consoled Tonali about the guilt he was feeling.
"I like the Brazilian guys, not only because they helped me, but because they helped the team."
Outside of football, Tonali has made remarkable progress in learning English (as you can see in the clip above), having spent a month with a professional tutor, and then honing his skills on the training ground, his physio and even with Bruno.
"He (Bruno) was my translator for the first two or three months, but I wanted to speak English for the football at the start, but now I've learned a little bit of everything."
As part of the conditions of his ban, Tonali was still eligible to play in practice matches for the club, and Wednesday night's Carabao Cup clash against Nottingham Forest will present the first opportunity for Tonali to impress on the pitch once again, and repay the trust shown to him by both the club and its fans.
"I'm excited because I think I'm a new player, a new transfer...a big thank you again to the fans. I don't think in another place there are these fans with one player. I think this every day."
