Sandro Tonali makes first Newcastle United appearance since 10-month betting ban

The Italian midfielder joined Newcastle from AC Milan for £52million last summer but was limited to just 12 first-team appearances before being hit with a 10-month betting ban. That ban expires later this month on August 29 ahead of the Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur on September 1 at St James’ Park.

While Tonali can’t play a part in any public matches between now and then, he has played training ground practice matches and has travelled over with the first team to Tokyo. The 24-year-old can’t feature in Saturday’s friendly matches against Yokohama F. Marinos as the Japan National Stadiuim on Saturday (7pm kick-off local time/11am BST) but has been active in Tokyo at a supporter event.

Tonali was in attendance at Batur Tokyo alongside his Newcastle team-mates Lewis Hall, Mark Gillespie and Sean Longstaff at a Newcastle United Supporter Engagement Event in Tokyo on Thursday. The Italian addressed supporters in English ahead of his much-anticipated return to first-team action to a very warm reception.

Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe has also spoke about Tonali’s imminent return while out in Japan.

“He’s good,” Howe said. “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.”