Sandro Tonali may be a long way from Tyneside, but the midfielder has not had to look too far to get the inside track on life in the Premier League and what it is like to play at St James' Park. After all, one of Tonali's countrymen, Wilfried Gnonto, is staying just a few doors down.
The pair, who are currently on international duty together with Italy under-21s, know each other 'very well' so you won't be surprised to learn that Tonali has already picked the Leeds forward's brains in their Cluj hotel before he completes his move to Newcastle United.
"I have spoken to Sandro in the last couple of days about the move and about Newcastle and the Premier League," Gnonto told ChronicleLive. "With his quality, both defensively and offensively, he can be an important player for the team. I'm just looking forward to seeing him in the Premier League and having another Italian player here.
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"He is an incredible player. What he has done in the last couple of seasons at AC Milan is just incredible. For his young age, his ability to understand the game both technically and tactically is impressive. He can still improve a lot to be an important player for his club and the national team."
Those final words, in particular, should excite Newcastle fans. It is easy to forget Tonali is still only 23 yet the midfielder has already helped AC Milan win the Scudetto, in 2022, and played his part in the Serie A giants reaching the Champions League semi-finals last time out.
Newcastle feel Tonali's best years are ahead of him, that this is a player who can grow with the club, as Eddie Howe's side look to build on last season's top-four finish and challenge for trophies in the years to come. It was those grand ambitions that helped convince a proud Rossonero to leave his boyhood club.
A report in Italy may have claimed that Tonali broke down in tears when he learned Milan were willing to sell him to Newcastle, but representative Giuseppe Riso has already rubbished such talk. "Newcastle is a perfect project for him," he said.
Yes, Tonali grew up an AC Milan fan but, whisper it quietly, the Italian even had a Chelsea shirt with Frank Lampard's name on the back when he was kid. This was not a boy raised on a strict diet of catenaccio. Few know that better than Roberto La Florio, who was Tonali's first agent.
"Sandro has always played in Italy, but he has always been very fascinated and, above all, attracted by the Premier League," he told ChronicleLive.
That may be easy to say in hindsight, but those words have been echoed by others. Former Brescia team-mate Nikolas Spalek, for instance, said: "He's not going from a small, mid-table club. To leave AC Milan for Newcastle means he wants to join the Premier League."
It was with Spalek that Tonali first started making waves in his homeland at Brescia, after coming through the club's academy, and the midfielder was handed his first-team debut at the age of just 17. Quickly dubbed the new Andrea Pirlo, Tonali soon started to carve out a name in his own right.
It did not go unnoticed by Brescia's senior pros, for instance, how Tonali would stay behind after training or how the youngster did not let boos from opposition fans affect him. That mentality quickly struck Spalek.
"Sandro was playing like a 30-year-old," the winger told ChronicleLive. "He had a fantastic mentality."
That fearlessness has served Tonali well, but it has not all been plain-sailing for the man who will become one of the most expensive players in Newcastle's history. In fact, Tonali was even turned down by his beloved Rossoneri as a kid.
So began a journey that saw Tonali travel to Piacenza and back most days and, then, onto Brescia when he was a little older, which was even further away. That commitment to the dream has shaped the Tonali of today as childhood friend Andrea Ferrari explained.
"Sandro is a serious person with a good head on his shoulders," he told ChronicleLive. "He always wanted to be a great footballer and worked hard to get where he is now, always giving his all.
"I'm proud because I shared an important part of his journey with Sandro and I know what he had to face to get to these levels. I had no doubts of his strength and that he could become a top player."
As Ferrari alluded to, the Italian and Tonali were also team-mates as kids at Lombardia Uno, a football school affiliated with AC Milan, where players even wear the Serie A giants' iconic red and black shirts. Tonali started off as a striker before dropping into midfield and, while talented, Milan favoured individuals who were stronger in 1 v 1 situations at the time.
According to Davide Gatti, the head of Lombardia Uno, that rejection 'certainly hurt' Tonali yet it only spurred the youngster on when he joined Piacenza. The rest was history.
"Sandro recently came to visit us," Gatti told Chroniclelive. "He is still the same serious guy, very polite and friendly as usual, but even more mature. He gives everything on the pitch and, wherever he goes, he will give his best. He won't change - even when he moves to Newcastle."
