From bringing in Antonio Barreca on loan in a previous era to targeting the highly-rated Sandro Tonali today, clearly, Newcastle United are now fishing in a very different pond in Italy. Four-and-a-half years on from signing their last Italian, Newcastle have sensed an opportunity in the offing and returned to Serie A in a bid to find value for money.
That should not come as a shock when homegrown midfielders, such as Declan Rice and Mason Mount, are out of reach not only in terms of transfer fees but, also, wages. In fact, Eddie Howe admitted last month that 'the big clubs will dwarf us' because Newcastle are not 'huge payers of wages in the Premier League'.
Yet Newcastle can still compete with Europe's elite on the continent and Tonali is a case in point. It says a lot about Tonali's character - more on that later - that the Italy international was willing to take a pay cut to make his loan move to AC Milan permanent in 2021 after a difficult first season at the San Siro. Although Tonali has since signed a new long-term contract with his boyhood club, and there are still four years to run on that deal, Newcastle would still be able to offer the midfielder a marked increase.
