AC Milan have lost their ‘soul’ after Sandro Tonali’s Newcastle United move, says club legend
Former AC Milan ace Massimo Ambrosini believes his old club have lost their soul having allowed Sandro Tonali to make a big-money move to Premier League outfit Newcastle United.
The 23-year-old midfielder signed a five-year contract at St James’ Park earlier this month in a deal understood to be worth around 70m euros, making him the most expensive Italian export in history.
His departure, however, has not gone down well in Milan, with Ambrosini criticising the San Siro club for allowing it to go ahead, describing it as shocking.
“His sale was shocking not only because Milan lost a great player, but also because they lost their soul,” Ambrosini told Gazzetta.
READ MORE: Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali sees girlfriend become ‘number one tourist’ as she embraces Geordie life
“Tonali can be replaced technically, but it will be more difficult to reproduce that special thing he was able to bring on the pitch. Those who remained, Theo Hernandez, Fikayo Tomori and Mike Maignan, will have to take a slice of Tonali’s heart and bring it onto the pitch.
“Without Maldini, Milan also lost their soul off the pitch and Pioli has more responsibility given that he’ll have to cover more roles alone. It won’t be easy.”
In a bid to replace the valuable Tonali, Milan have already signed England midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek from Chelsea and expect to complete the signing of Tijjani Reijnders this week in a deal with around 25m euros, and they continue to be linked with Loftus-Cheek’s Stamford Bridge teammate Christian Pulisic with Stefano Pioli keen to bolster his ranks ahead of the new campaign.
“I have the feeling that Stefano Pioli will use a three-man midfielder more often this season. He already did it last term, but now it will be different,” he continued.
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Newcastle United have added another analyst to their academy ranks. Jordan Davison, recently of Leeds United, has announced his arrival on social media.
Since joining as the club’s sporting director from Brighton and Hove Albion last summer, Dan Ashworth has gone about restructuring the Magpies’ academy by creating a number of key positions.
In the last few months, Paul Midgley (Head of Head of Youth Recruitment), Paul Mclaren (Head of National Youth Scouting 13s to 18s) and Ciaran Hughes (Lead Video Analyst) have joined from Manchester City, as have Edward Black (Lead Academy Scout U9s to U14s), Delroy Ebanks (Academy Lead Scout for the South of England), Josh Appleyard (Positional Analyst), Oliver Slater (Positional Analyst) from Arsenal, West Ham, Norwich City and Blackburn, respectivel.
Davison joins as an under-21s performance analyst, a similar role he also carried out at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bradford City.
he posted on Twitter: “I’m absolutely delighted to announce I’ll be joining my boyhood club @NUFC, overseeing the analysis provision for the U21’s. An opportunity I could never turn down, great to be back home. Looking forward to getting started & helping the academy progress even further!”
Davison spent just under two years at Elland Road, working his way up from academy analyst to first-team analyst for the second half of last season.
“Thank you for everything @LUFC,” he tweeted earlier this month. “Starting off as the U16 analyst to finishing with the 1st team, I fell in love with the club. Very grateful for my journey, working with some amazing people along the way. Wishing everyone at the club all the very best for the future.”
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