Tonali ignores journalists TWICE so is leaving Newcastle after ‘unseen outburst’ at ‘female member of club staff’

Editor F365 06 Feb 2026 11:39 AM

Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola

Sandro Tonali there, being 'courted by' Pep Guardiola

Sandro Tonali ignored journalists in the mixed zone TWICE – so can only possibly be leaving Newcastle after being ‘courted by’ close friend Pep Guardiola.

Manchester City are also signing Dan Burn by that same slightly flawed logic.

But enough about such unimportant people and matters. What about the large-headed main character?

Me, myself and I

Quite why Craig Hope has decided to entirely eschew the first rule of reporting – never make yourself the story – so thoroughly this season is a mystery.

Having spent the first few months of the campaign hounding Jude Bellingham to an incredibly uncomfortable degree, he has had to make do with the day job of covering Newcastle outside of international breaks.

And dear reader, Hope has a taste for the spotlight now. You can tell by how comically large, prominent and literally central his head is in comparison to actual Pep Guardiola, Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon here:

With apologies for that dystopian nightmare fuel, bear it in mind when reading the opening paragraph to Hope’s latest ‘Newcastle Confidential’ piece for the Daily Mail:

‘As Sandro Tonali walked by me in the mixed zone at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night, I asked him, in Italian, if he could spare two minutes to reflect. ‘Ha due minuti per i giornali?’.’

Mamma f**king mia, that’s exceptional chief football reporting. Top work on the Duolingo score, fella.

There follows three separate instances of Hope referring to himself in the first person in the next seven paragraphs. It’s not bad going for someone who so recently raged against another man’s supposed ‘ego’.

Tonali dissonant

‘He shook his head and walked on, before making a loud and clearly audible comment that captured his frustration with the team’s performance in recent weeks, a run of one win in seven,’ a blissfully oblivious Hope continues. ‘I won’t repeat the comment, but it’s fair to say he did not cut a happy figure.’

It was definitely frustration ‘with the team’s performance in recent weeks’ that presumably caused Tonali to tell him to do one. Can’t think of any other reason why someone might be annoyed in the presence of Craig Hope asking them to spare two minutes for the newspapers.

The key part of the headline to Hope’s piece, by the way, is ‘Sandro Tonali’s frustration revealed in unseen outburst’. Which is a bit rich when most important and instructive bit of said ‘unseen outburst’ is specifically withheld.

Pep talk

Hope asks, ‘What does this tell us about his future?,’ then declares ‘we should not read too much into the post-game frustrations of a footballer who holds himself and his team-mates to very high standards,’ before reading hilariously far into that biggest of triggers for a football journalist: a footballer ignoring them in the mixed zone.

Tonali’s ‘post-match exchange with Pep Guardiola’ is brought up – a reminder that Hope said Tonali was being ‘courted by Guardiola’ – the Manchester City manager having famously never spoken to an opposition player on the pitch after a game.

And Hope says that ‘when I asked Guardiola about this afterwards,’ his answer revealed ‘mutual friends and prior communication’.

Which is to say that Guardiola explained how they have a friend in common, an obvious connection in Brescia, and that he has known Tonali’s father from “some time ago”.

Guardiola also said he discussed with Tonali “how happy he is in Newcastle”. Yet Hope fails to actually quote Guardiola at any stage, dropping in only that cryptic line about his ‘longer answer than anticipated’.

A different MailOnline article which actually manages to cover those quotes properly adds that ‘Tonali was not the only player Guardiola addressed following the Carabao Cup tie, with the Man City boss also spotted in conversation with Newcastle defender Dan Burn’.

What does this tell us about Burn’s future? The massive head of Craig Hope will tell us one day.

Ton deaf

Hope is not the only one at it – although at least Gary Stonehouse of The Sun manages not to make it all about himself.

‘Sandro Tonali overheard venting frustration at Newcastle staff as Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea plot £100m transfer,’ is an interesting headline. Is the ‘unseen outburst’ about to actually be ‘revealed’?

Not quite.

‘Tonali was asked TWICE – once in English and a second in Italian – by journalists to stop in the mixed zone.

‘Tonali walked on but his disappointment was clear when he was overheard venting his frustrations to a female member of club staff.’

He ignored journalists in the mixed zone TWICE? It’s a wonder Newcastle didn’t fire Tonali on the spot.

And is it particularly relevant that the member of club staff was female?

And there is a small but not insignificant difference between venting one’s frustrations ‘at’ and ‘to’ someone, isn’t there? The headline implies Tonali is furious with the staff member; the reality remains that he was probably just annoyed at the reporters.

Luka the draw

‘Tottenham at risk of losing top-rated star before he’s even played a game’ – Daily Mirror website.

Just because Ramon Vega took to doom-mongering Spurs Twitter with precisely zero evidence to say Luka Vuskovic ‘is not coming back’ from his Hamburg loan, doesn’t mean we have to pretend that ‘it appears’ the centre-half ‘could be set for a permanent exit’.