Newcastle provides an intriguing update on Sandro Tonali following his enrollment in a “specialized” program
Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali won’t be able to play again until August but the Italy international is clearly making the most of his time on the training pitches
Sandro Tonali may be suspended but Eddie Howe has revealed that the Newcastle United midfielder’s game has ‘improved’ after he was given a ‘specialised’ training programme.
Tonali is approaching the halfway point of his ban after being handed a 10-month suspension for betting breaches back in October. Although Tonali won’t be able to play for Newcastle until August, crucially, the 24-year-old has still been able to train with his team-mates.
Tonali was the first to admit that he felt ‘lost’ following his move from AC Milan, but the summer signing has clearly benefited from his time on the grass in recent months.
“We have spent time with him identifying areas of his game that we want to improve,” Howe told reporters. “He’s got a lot of time to do that so we have spent a lot of time with him doing that.
“That naturally engages your brain into what you’re doing. If we had not done that and it was just random training for him that was not specialised, that’s when he could potentially drift mentally.
“I have to say he has been very good in supporting his team-mates and very good in making the training sessions better for everybody. I’ve definitely seen an improvement in his game despite the fact he is not playing.
“It can sometimes be very difficult to improve your game without getting the match stimulus you need, but he has played in training games and bigger pitch stuff. It’s important that we do that for him so athletically he does not suffer.”
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