Newcastle United to complete another AC Milan swoop after ‘controversial sale’ already agreed

La Repubblica claim that AC Milan team manager Andrea Romeo has left his post at the San Siro to join Newcastle’s backroom staff to help Tonali transition to his new life in England. The 23-year-old left Italy for the first time after Milan accepted a £52million bid from Newcastle earlier this summer, becoming his nation’s most expensive ever player in the process.

The midfielder has made three appearances for The Magpies so far this pre-season and is likely to play a part in the upcoming Sela Cup friendlies at St James’ Park this weekend.

The reports labelled Tonali’s transfer to Newcastle as a ‘controversial sale’ from an AC Milan perspective. There are no further details on what Romeo’s role will be with The Magpies outside of helping Tonali adapt to his new surroundings.

The former referee joined AC Milan in 2017, before that he spent two years at city rivals Inter Milan in the same role of team manager, which is similar to a player liaison officer in England.

Ahead of Tonali’s transfer to Newcastle, reports from Italy claimed the player was reluctant to make the Premier League switch. But those claims were quickly played down by head coach Eddie Howe.

“I think that’s been totally misguided,” Howe said. “Sandro is very proud to be here and proud to wear the shirt and represent the club.

“That was made very clear to me early otherwise we wouldn’t have committed to the transfer.”