The second coming of Sandro Tonali could be something special | OneFootball

Football managers love a cliche. One of the most ridiculous among hundreds of contenders is that old chestnut: “Getting him back is like signing a new player.”

In such cases, Ron Knee or his real-life equivalent is normally referring to the return from long-term injury of a much-missed star.

And usually, the comeback is nothing like signing a new player. The man in question is not an improved version, he still makes the same mistakes and has the same shortcomings as before. Often, the absence has rendered him less effective

Occasionally, though, the truism is justified.

One example sticks out like a sore thumb to me and, I suspect, thousands of other Newcastle United supporters, nearly 30 years after the event.

On January 25, 1995, Eric Cantona launched his kung-fu attack on a foul-mouthed Crystal Palace fan at Selhurst Park. A subsequent ban meant the Frenchman didn’t play again until October 1 that year, having missed the second half of one season and six weeks of the next. A few days more than eight months in all.

His return was for a home match against Liverpool, in which he scored one and made one in a 2-2 draw. We all know how the 95-96 season played out and we all have a pet theory to explain why we were the gallant losers, rather than the triumphant winners.

I will avoid intruding on public grief again, except to suggest that Cantona, having sat and watched his team lose the title on the final day of the 94-95 campaign (an event still fondly remembered by West Ham fans) was like a man possessed when he did return. His club had treated him with sympathy and tolerance, amid widespread demands that he be kicked out of English football for ever. He repaid them in spades, scoring and making goal after goal as we were relentlessly reeled in at the top of the table.

So much for ancient history. Leap forward three decades and consider what might happen when our very own “Carlos Kickaball”, in the memorable words of Alan Michael Sugar, dons the black-and-white stripes in anger soon after his 10-month ban ends on August 27 this year.

Unlike Cantona, Sandro Tonali has not yet had the time to establish himself as a kingpin for his team. However, there are several similarities: a lengthy ban, a season ultimately ending in disappointment while he watched from the sidelines, a sympathetic management, supporters prepared to overlook his indiscretions and now longing for his return.

His Premier League debut on August 12 last year, when he scored the opener in our 5-1 thumping of Aston Villa at St James’ Park, was the stuff of fairytales. Too good to be true? “Not ‘alf!”, as Alan Fluff Freeman loved to tell his pop pickers on Wonderful Radio One in the sensational Seventies.

However, before our Italian stallion was punished by his nation’s football authority last October, a worldwide ban endorsed by FIFA, he had shown enough to suggest he could be the sort of midfield playmaker that United will need to mount a serious challenge for the big honours.

Having turned 24 this month, he should be on the cusp of his peak years. He has already clocked up more than 200 senior appearances, including 15 games for Italy, and in 2022 helped AC Milan to win Serie A. No wonder United made him the most expensive Italian player on record when he signed for a reported £55m on July 3 last year.

What transpired three months later was a sporting and personal disaster; for Sandro Tonali, for United, for football in general. His gambling addiction has denied him and us upwards of 40 club matches, a place in his national team for Euro 24 and the chance to win something in his first season in England.

Conversely, he will have spent more than a year with his current teammates by the time he plays again. And here’s another silver lining: if he is as good as some pundits believe (including Paolo Di Canio and Fabio Capello) he might have shone so brightly last season that the five-year contract with United would have simply forced up his sell-on price in the next transfer window.

Eddie Howe favours a three-man or five-man midfield in front of a back four, with a lone striker supported by energetic midfielders and full-backs. Many fans reckon Tonali, Bruno G and Big Joe will form a formidable trio in the engine room. Plenty of others will be jockeying for position, including Miguel Almiron, Elliot Anderson, Harvey Barnes, Anthony Gordon, Sean Longstaff, Lewis Miley, Jacob Murphy and Joe Willock.

If Man City had done the honourable thing and won at Wembley yesterday, they might all have been called upon before the end of next season, especially if we were blighted by injury again.

However, with that club I shall not name essentially taking our place in Europe (to be pedantic, they usurped Chelsea and will play in the Europa League, while the west Londoners will have to make do with our Conference League berth) some of the midfielders might have played their last game for United. A couple could be shown the door, while one or two Toon aces may view the coming season with less than 100% enthusiasm now it has been shorn of European exposure.

Annoyingly, the six English clubs who tried to form a breakaway Euro Super League only three years ago will all play in one UEFA competition or another next season. Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool in the overblown Champions League, Spurs and the Salfords in the Europa League and Chelsea in the Conference League. I know which Champions League team to cheer in 2024-25; good old Villa!

There are other possible consequences. Has Erik Ten Hag earned a stay of execution? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. His employers have previous in sacking a Dutch manager with three names, only hours after winning the FA Cup. And we all know history has a way of repeating.

Before vanishing into the land of idle speculation, let’s focus on the effects of a purely domestic campaign. We will start one round earlier in the League Cup, just as we did in 2022-23 when we reached our first Wembley final in 24 years. We will play fewer games than the 51 we battled through this season. We will not face a seemingly endless schedule of Sunday-Thursday-Sunday games, which must be good news, especially for the travelling Toon Army.