Sandro Tonali had a ‘very difficult evening’ against former employers AC Milan in the Champions League but Danny Murphy is backing the Newcastle United summer signing to come good under Eddie Howe.
Murphy, the former England international, knows from experience just how difficult it can be returning to your old stomping ground, before going head-to-head with the players you used to share a dressing room with.
As such, the one-time Liverpool midfielder has plenty of sympathy for Sandro Tonali; Newcastle United’s £60 million record signing enduring a punishing homecoming during the Magpies‘ first Champions League encounter in two long decades.
Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali struggles on Milan return
“(Tonali is) a super talent,” Murphy tells talkSPORT (20 September, 10am). “It was a very difficult evening for him. I can only think back to the first time I went back to Liverpool. It was the most horrendous experience ever. Awful.
“(Tonali) looked a little bit inhibited but he’s a super talent. He can play in various positions, got good feet. He and Bruno (Guimaraes) will get it together.”
A month on, Tonali’s goalscoring debut in that 5-1 opening day hammering of Aston Villa is starting to feel slightly like a ‘false dawn’; the most expensive signing in Newcastle’s history struggling to produce similar performances on a consistent basis during an inconsistent start to Eddie Howe’s second full season at the helm.
Problems arising
Tonali failed to lay a glove on his beloved Milan as Newcastle held onto a 0-0 scoreline by the final cuticle of their fingernails, while his defensive acumen once again came into question as the Rossoneri carved through Howe’s midfield like a sharpened blade through a plump Thanksgiving turkey.
This is not the first time Tonali’s work-rate has come into question either. Alan Shearer expressed his concerns after the Italian failed to close down a Brighton shot during the recent 3-1 hammering at The Amex.
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