Sandro Tonali’s agent says “transfer discussions will take place” following Arsenal contact

The agent of Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali has seemingly opened the door for a potential transfer to Arsenal in the summer.

As was recently reported by the Athletic, it seems Tonali was offered to Arsenal on Deadline Day, though there was never likely to be enough time to get such a major deal done on that occasion.

Still, it seems the Italy international could still be on his way out of Newcastle in the summer, with latest updates sure to have the Gunners on alert.

Tonali’s agent Giuseppe Riso has spoken out on the situation and suggested further talks over his client’s potential exit will take place soon.

Although Riso did not mention Arsenal specifically, his words could be significant given that he supposedly contacted the north London giants about this deal.

“Newcastle are having a hard time letting go of Sandro, and he wants to lead the club to the Champions League,” Riso told Tuttosport, as quoted and translated by the Daily Mirror.

“We’ll evaluate and decide what to do in the summer. These transfer discussions will take place later. We’ll see how the season ends and then we’ll decide what to do.

“There’s no preference at the moment. It’s still early. What we’re saying today won’t apply tomorrow. Newcastle couldn’t let him go now, and there’s no point in moving, especially since Sandro is very attached to the club.”

Interestingly, despite the surprise talk about Tonali and Arsenal towards the end of the January transfer window, it’s not yet been confirmed if Mikel Arteta’s side are actually interested.

AFC already have Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi as their first choice in that area of midfield, with Christian Norgaard as backup.

It’s hard to see Tonali starting over Rice or Zubimendi that often, while he also surely wouldn’t settle for a backup role like Norgaard has had.

Arteta would obviously love to have more depth if possible, but Tonali might be better off moving somewhere where he’d be a guaranteed starter, as there are surely plenty of other top clubs who could give him that kind of key role.

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