The ‘incredible’ Newcastle United transfer Eddie Howe ‘fell in love with’ before smashing record

After an extensive scouting process, Newcastle paid £52million to AC Milan for the 23-year-old midfielder, a record transfer fee for an Italian. And Tonali broke another record just six minutes into his competitive debut for the club, becoming the fastest goalscorer on his first competitive start for The Magpies in the Premier League era.

Ahead of the match, Howe faced a decision to hand Tonali his full debut or go with the tried and tested trio of Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton and Sean Longstaff.

Explaining the decision, the United boss said: “It was a tough decision between him and Sean but in the end it was based on fitness really and Sean had missed a lot of pre-season with a niggly injury.

“Sandro had completed all of pre-season so based on that and how Sandro had done, that’s why I made the decision and I thought he was magnificent for us.

“The goal helps, it builds confidence and he certainly looks at home in the midfield, I thought his style was really effective for us.

“He’s an incredible technician, very good with both feet and it was great to see him score. It was a great ball by Anthony [Gordon] and it was a perfect start to the game for us.”

Newcastle watched Tonali regularly in action for AC Milan last season with Howe admitting he often found himself watching footage of the player in action on his laptop between planning for matches.

“I wouldn’t say he exceeded my expectations because that would be disrespectful to his ability,” Howe added. “We pursued him for a long-long time, paid a big fee for him because I fell in love with watching him play last year.

“I think he’s an outstanding talent who can do a little bit of everything. It’s just one game and I don’t want to go over the top and put more pressure on him but it’s a really good start and I’m pleased he looked confident in the shirt and the fans have certainly taken to him as well which is great to see.”