By Kieran Maguire

23rd Oct, 2023 | 7:00am

Kieran Maguire reveals Tonali's impact on Newcastle United FFP as ban looms

Newcastle United will be frustrated at Sandro Tonali’s potential ban as his £55million signing put the club ‘close to the limit’ with FFP.

That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about how Tonali’s ban would impact Newcastle financially.

The 23-year-old midfielder faces a potential year-long ban if found guilty of betting breaches in Italy.

The former AC Milan star is being investigated for illegal betting after admitting to placing bets on the Serie A side while representing them as a player.

Tonali was Newcastle’s most expensive signing of the summer after completing a £55million move to St James’ Park in July.

Maguire explained that the ‘marquee’ signing of Tonali stretched Newcastle’s budget under Financial Fair Play regulations, so a ban would be a major blow to the club.

“Tonali was very much the marquee signing as far as Newcastle United’s summer market was concerned,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.

“His £55million signing has put Newcastle close to the limit with regards to what they can spend and the amount of wiggle room that they have.

“If they make progress into the knockout phase of the Champions League and with the benefits of the new Saudi Arabian airline sponsorship deal coming through, I think that that will give them extra flexibility.

“But they need to start looking at moving players out as well.

“You can only understand the frustration of Newcastle towards Tonali’s situation.

“He’s made an impressive start to his Premier League career.

“He’s certainly become a hit with the fans and this will be a blow if it goes ahead.

“I think the one sentence that we’ve seen to date was for seven months with five months suspended for the Italian player who effectively came forward.

“So we’ve seen other clubs have to deal with it.“

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