Newcastle United CEO makes 'new signing' claim after exclusive appearance

The Magpies paid £55million to bring Tonali to St James’ Park from AC Milan last summer, however he made just 12 appearances before being handed a 10-month ban for breaching betting rules.

Behind the scenes, Tonali has continued to train with his Newcastle teammates and undergone extensive English lessons.

His firm grasp of the language was evident at an exclusive supporter event in Tokyo last week when he spoke on stage alongside Sean Longstaff, Mark Gillespie and Lewis Hall.

Eales was among those present in the room and said: “It was great, wasn’t it? “I don’t think anyone in the room knew that the players were coming.

“Sandro’s English is really good, and I thought he just spoke from the heart. For me, you got a sense of what Sandro Tonali is as a player. I think he accepts that last year doesn’t almost count, that season, because of what happened.

“I think you can see just by the way he carries himself that he’s really focused for this season, and it’s a way for him to kick start his Newcastle United career.

“We know he’s a fantastic player. He works his socks off in training, which is difficult when you’re not playing games. He’s done that. He starting to see that August 28 is fast approaching.

“It is a cliche, but he is going to be genuinely like a new signing, because this is his chance to launch his Newcastle United career. It’s exciting for him.”

Tonali is ruled out of the opening three games of the new season, both Southampton and Bournemouth in the Premier League, and the Carabao Cup second round, which hasn’t been drawn yet.

The midfielder will be eligible for the visit of Tottenham Hotspur to St James’ Park on Sunday, September 1.

Speaking about Tonali last week, Howe said: “He’s good. Mentally, I think he’s been excellent during this long period. I think he’s trained really well. He’s very low maintenance for someone like me to manage the situation. I think he’s been first class. He’s been really supportive to the players that have been playing, and making sure that the team’s in the right place, ahead of himself.

“I expect, with the way he’s trained, for him to get up to speed quite quickly, but I do think there needs to be a certain amount of understanding that there’s just been no way for us to get him the games that he needs into his legs.

“Although he’s joined in every day, a lot of his training would be smaller than a match unless it’s an 11 v 11, which we would occasionally do in training. I think it probably will take him a while to get to his very best levels, but he looks fit and very focused. He’s a big player for us.”