Eddie Howe's 36-word response when asked if Sandro Tonali will start vs Nottingham Forest
Eddie Howe has confirmed Sandro Tonali will be in Newcastle United’s squad for Wednesday night’s trip to Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup.
Today (August 27) is officially the last day of the midfielder’s 10-month suspension from football for breaching betting regulations. Tonali made just 12 appearances for Newcastle after completing a £55million transfer from AC Milan last summer.
Although the 24-year-old hasn’t been able to feature for the Magpies competitively, he has continued to train with his teammates and is understood to have played in a handful of behind closed doors matches during pre-season.
Tonali is set to make his long-awaited return tomorrow evening at the City Ground.
“He will be in the squad providing he comes through training today,” Howe confirmed. “He’s fit, he just hasn’t had the match, the 11 v 11 that every footballer will tell you is the most important thing really, the game time.
“He’s completed all of training for a long period of time, worked incredibly hard with the sports scientist team to be on top of his fitness and make sure he’s fitter than when he got banned.
“I’d imagine there are a range of emotions, probably a lot of excitement for the next stage of his career really. When you have a long period of time out, you have a long time to think and reflect, and I’m sure he’s done all of those things. Now he is doing what he loves and that will be an incredible release for him.
“The microscope is on everybody and it will be on Sandro for a period of time, we understand that and he does. It's small steps. For us, we just expect him to be himself and play his game. He’s a very intelligent footballer, a very good technician and he has to play to his strengths and not try and do anything out of the ordinary. That will be hugely effective for us.
Will he start? “There’s temptation to do anything we want with him,” Howe told NewcastleWorld. “He’s done the work and I feel confident if we were to start him he would be fit enough to play. I’ll have to make that decision.”