Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has revealed that Sandro Tonali is still available for selection and could face Wolves on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, despite his imminent 10-month ban from football.
The 23-year-old, a £55m summer signing from AC Milan, will miss the remainder of Newcastle’s season and Italy’s Euro 2024 finals campaign, should they qualify.
Tonali will not be able to play competitive football until August 2024 but is free to train with Newcastle and play in friendlies.
But according to Sky in Italy, the 10-month ban still needs to be rubber stamped by the Italian authorities.
Formal ratification could come this afternoon, but until it does, Tonali is available for selection.
Howe said: “We’ve not had official confirmation as a football club. We’ve not had anything from the Italian authorities so we waiting for that official confirmation to come through. There’s a high chance he could be available for us. A few things need to happen before the ban is imposed to let’s see.
“You saw from the Dortmund game he did very well. He’s been bright and he’s trained. The only way I can judge him is on that. He’s been good around the group and the training ground. From how I can see, he’s handling himself in the right way.
“I think I said in the press conference the other day, I can’t work with hindsight. We didn’t know this was even a possibility. There’s a frustration that we won’t have him now as I liked him as a footballer.”
Howe said it would be down to the club if it would pursue a legal matter.
The Newcastle boss hopes all parties can learn from the episode.
“There’s always scope to improve what we’re offering our players in terms of education,” he added. “There’s pitfalls to being a professional footballer and if we can offer this guidance more, it will help avoid future scenarios.
“If he’s banned for a length of time, he’s going to have difficult moments during that timeframe. There will be a period where it’s just training and no game and that’s going to be difficult to adjust to. The communication between myself, the coaching staff and him is going to be hugely important.
“We need a squad robust enough to deal with these things even though you can’t foresee these things.
“I’m slightly removed from everything because I’m focused on training and game preparation. Then you come back to hear another piece of news. I’ve mentally prepared for that now and I accept that at some point I will be without Sandro for a long period of time.”
(SKY SPORTS)
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