At a time when football belongs more to the capitalists and less to the romantics, Serie A still boasts a few love stories.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic just had to go back and retire at the club he loved the most. Romelu Lukaku couldn’t tear himself away from the Nerazzurri stripes. Italian players have regularly turned down bigger and better deals to remain playing in the peninsula for their beloved clubs.
Sandro Tonali made the ultimate gesture of any footballer when he took a pay cut to ensure his stay at Milan in 2021, sticking with the team he supported as a child. There is no greater love than an Italian boy and his favourite club. Or so we thought.
That love story is now over after Newcastle United made the 23-year-old midfielder the world’s most expensive Italian by signing him for a fee in the region of £55m from AC Milan.
“I know what I did to get to this shirt and I would never make the mistake of leaving,” he once told Corriere della Sera. Milan was the dream.
He comes from Sant’Angelo, a tiny town in the province of Lodi with only 13,000 inhabitants, most of whom, like Tonali, support Milan. Former Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso was his idol. Unsurprising when you consider that spirit and grit are the adjectives often used to describe Santangiolinos.
From an early age Sandrino, as he’s affectionately referred to by those who watched him grow up, showed his potential. Combative, with a great sense of positioning and an innate understanding of the game, Tonali had what it took to break through.
Football is always fun for children, but Tonali seemed to especially revel in the tough moments. A footballing masochist, he wouldn’t delight in the game unless he had to suffer for the win.
Arriving at Brescia, Tonali began to capture the attention of all of Italy. Who was this kid referred to as the heir of Andrea Pirlo? “Tonali doesn’t look like me as a player. He is much more complete, both defensively and offensively,” explained Pirlo when asked about the youngster.
It wasn’t Pirlo whom Tonali sought to model his game after, but rather his team-mate, former Rangers midfielder Gattuso.
In a short film released by AC Milan on the player called ‘Sandro Tonali – A Rossonero dream come true’, one anecdote revealed that a mug with Gattuso’s image printed on it was among Tonali’s most prized possessions.
When his mum accidentally broke it, he painstakingly ensured each piece was glued back together.
Like Gattuso, Tonali possesses a combative style, spirit of sacrifice and ability to cover ground. Most importantly however, he is an old school professional who cares about the game.
Prior to the Champions League semi-final against Inter, Tonali shut out the world to concentrate. Stricter diet, constant training, PR duties were rescheduled, no social media, no birthday celebrations – just a slice of cake and a candle. There was a job to do and a game to be played.
‘The man who can play anywhere’
Nothing ever seemed as important to Tonali as football and Milan. In his first season at the club, he struggled.
Many noted how realising the dream of playing in the Rossoneri colours took an emotional toll on the player and delayed his integration. Coach Stefano Pioli worked with him closely and in the second season, Tonali became one of the superstars behind the Scudetto win.
Milan were not supposed to win the title in 2022. It was too early in their project and Inter had the better team.
A young group with more potential than experience, it was up to Milan to rise to the occasion and capitalise when Inter began to fall behind. When the pressure was on, Tonali demonstrated his capacity to do anything and everything in service of the team.
He scored the winner against Lazio in gameweek 34, he was the engine that ensured the win against Fiorentina in gameweek 35, and he pushed Milan further up the pitch and scored a brace to destroy bogey team Hellas Verona in gameweek 36. Milan registered six out of six wins in the final stretch.
Tonali was everywhere. He was winning back possession, scoring goals and covering more ground than seemed humanly possible. Compared with his first season at Milan, the midfielder had improved greatly and helped lead his club to their first title in 11 years.
Beppe Bergomi, Inter’s legendary centre-back, said it best when it came to describing what makes the player so special: “Tonali is the man who can play anywhere in this Milan [side]. If you notice, every tactical change involves him, he’s the one who moves to a specific area of the pitch based on the plans prepared by the coach.”
Tonali was Pioli’s joker card. Placed anywhere on the pitch, his tactical understanding of the game ensured effective execution of Milan’s tactics, whether that be to free Rafael Leao from strict marking, to defend from the front, or to act as an auxiliary striker. Tonali can play in a multitude of positions.
This type of attitude and his attachment to the jersey was why he was viewed upon as ‘Capitan Futuro’, the future captain of AC Milan. Not any more.
Fans of the club have lost both Paolo Maldini, their legendary former captain who was one of the directors in charge of rebuilding this great club, and now Tonali – the future emblem – in one month.
Milan seem to have opted for a strategy that distances themselves from sentiment and romance to focus on business.
This is a depressing time for the many Italian clubs who have built impressive footballing projects – as shown by so many Italian teams featuring in the latter stages of Europe’s top competitions – but who simply cannot afford to retain their talents long enough to compete more consistently with the cashed-up elite.
As for Newcastle, this is the time to sit back and enjoy watching their own footballing project unfold.
In Tonali, they have purchased a highly motivated and professional player who loves nothing more than winning back possession and supporting the team, whether that be offensively or defensively.
He will train rigorously, he will focus only the game and he will ensure that one day, he will have his own image printed on a mug for a youngster to treasure.
