Newcastle transfer news: Eddie Howe looks to Italy again to replace Sandro Tonali

Casting our minds back to the summer transfer window, where the Newcastle transfer news which linked us with a move for Sandro Tonali seemed unbelievable at the time. It was a real statement of intent from Dan Ashworth and the Newcastle board and showed how far we came in such a short amount of time.

Fast forward to six months later and things look much bleaker in this regard. We didn't know at the time that Sandro Tonali would carry with him the baggage of a suspension, something we would only come to find out a few months after signing him. Now Eddie Howe finds himself in a position of needing to replace the Italy sensation, at least for the next few months.

Newcastle transfer news: Eddie Howe looks to Italy again to replace Sandro Tonali

According to Football Fancast, Newcastle United are plotting a move for Nicolo Barella of Inter Milan, who the Magpies originally wanted to sign before Sandro Tonali. Barella is linked with a move away from the Champions League finalists in January, with Newcastle unsurprisingly one of the contenders to sign him.

The report states that Tonali could soon be "forgotten" if Barella is signed, since his Italian counterpart has more experience and particularly on the big stage with his Champions League final runout. I think this is a bit of a stretch, personally - Nobody is denying that Barella would become one of our best midfielders, but Tonali is still up there as well. There's no way signing Barella would make our investment in Tonali in the summer redundant, that's not the way football works since Howe is clearly a big fan of Tonali and will welcome him back with open arms.

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In other news, Eddie Howe is looking to sign Kalvin Phillips, as a Sandro Tonali replacement who would save the club a lot of cash.

What do you make of today's Newcastle transfer news?