21 Jun 2026 10:29:58
Tonali is a top class midfielder. Spurs are bidding for him, he would be someone that would suit Liverpool. He controls the midfield, he allows the flare players to play around him, maybe worth a big bid. Especially if we sell on Macallister and possibly Jones. Rumours swirling about Szob as well. Maybe be worth a bid.
21 Jun 2026 10:48:21
He is too slow, Iraoni team thrives on having legs in the midfield to create overloads.
21 Jun 2026 11:11:48
Man of Todd, I'm sorry, mate, but if you think Tonali is slow or doesn't have legs, you've not watched him play enough. I thought I'd double check if the stats backed up what my eyes observed, and my belief was quite conclusively supported. He was clocked at over 34km/h last season whilst playing for Italy and also was 3rd in the whole league for distance covered per 90. (Approx 327km in 2500 minutes).
Tonali gets through so much running and is no slouch. Most players in the top 10 top speeds every season are usually clocked at 35-37km/h, so he's not far off that on top of being a monster in terms of km's covered.
Not trying to dig you out, mate, I love your posts normally, but you're wrong about Tonali. He would easily cope with the running and intensity required in any team you could think of.
21 Jun 2026 11:15:41
Great player, but I feel like he's too similar to Szoboszlai in terms of type, though Tonali has found his best form playing deeper in the pivot with Bruno playing as more of an 8 in front of him. Maybe he's better defensively, while Szoboszlai offers more going forward.
Szoboszlai is also a much better athlete. Newcastle are looking for 100m pounds, apparently, and he would expect a big pay rise. For that price, it's a resounding no.
21 Jun 2026 11:15:49
I might be wrong, but I'm sure the Newcastle midfield 3 covered the most distance over the season of any midfield.
21 Jun 2026 11:16:21
Man of Todd is right. We're carrying too many Slow players. We need some speed in this Liverpool squad.
The further away we get from Arne-Ball the better. Inject some excitement back into our football, and more importantly, get Anfield electric again.
21 Jun 2026 10:53:29
I haven't watched as much football last season, partly by choice, partly by circumstance
But I recall that Newcastle's midfield has generally been sound and dominate with Tonali and Guimarães, whilst Joelinton added some flair. Thought I recall them being an emotional bunch and a tad prone to bad tempers when things ain't going their way? Or was that Paquetá from West Ham?
Guess I'm entering Ed025 zone in age though his wit and memory seems to be very sound still!
{Ed025's Note - dont put money on that SG, im falling to bits mate and cant remember if i have put sugar in my tea half the time, but just like Everton im hanging in there hoping things will improve.. :)
21 Jun 2026 11:43:13
Tonali is a great player, but we need a passing profile in midfield. As PB pointed out, he is too close to Szoboszlai in profile. Macca used to be the passer in our midfield but he has dropped off so much, that we need to replace him with someone who can do that. If Wharton was defensively sound he would be the ideal signing. Another option could be to put Wirtz in the midfield, but maybe takes him too far from threatening positions.
On the other hand, I think Gravenberch and Szoboszlai together in the two holding midfielders (as Iraola plays them) might actually surprise us. Szob definitely can pass, even though he is not used in that sense till now, and Grav is elite at breaking the press with a run.
{Ed025's Note - Sobigheadedandsly is a good player TKA but Tonali is certainly an upgrade mate, Slobs highlight reel is very good but the rest of his game is not up to much in my humble opinion..
21 Jun 2026 11:46:38
Genuinely miffed that we aren't in for him, one of the best midfielders in the league imo.
21 Jun 2026 11:47:30
Not disputing that we need more pace and legs LFC8. I'm disputing that Tonali lacks pace and legs! Watch him burn the entire United team in the 94th minute in that clip.
21 Jun 2026 12:20:21
Gotta agree with MK here. Tonali is certainly not slow, and is one of the most mobile midfielders in the league. For a player with such a big reputation for his on the ball ability, he's become one of the better midfielders in the league purely because of his off the ball game. He has played so much better as a ball winning, hard running, pressing pest deep in the Newcastle midfield than an 8, and Howe pretty much only plays him in there now. He's become a pretty different player to the 'Pirlo heir' that he came into the league as, credit to Howe for seeing that he could become that player rather than the one he was expected to be.
Sort of like what Klopp did with Wijnaldum.
That being said though, he is not as productive with the ball as his feet as he was expected to be. Maybe that's because of his role, or because others can fill that function in the team, but he is not very productive at all in terms of attacking numbers.
21 Jun 2026 12:22:02
Great clip, MK, and congratulations on qualifying as a Newcastle and Utd super fan after watching a clip on YouTube.
You can now venture onto both fan pages and talk down to their other fans.
In all seriousness though, with you on Tonali. Didn't realise he was quick, but knew he covered some hard yards.
21 Jun 2026 12:23:23
I'd love us to get Tonali, I just can't see Newcastle letting him leave for anything other than obscene amounts of money.
21 Jun 2026 11:35:30
Sugar in your tea Ed?
I was under the impression that you were sweet enough.
{Ed025's Note - its sweeteners these days Flash because im Diabetic, trouble is it varies from 0-6 depending on my memory at the time mate.. :)
21 Jun 2026 13:02:55
If we bid for Tonali, I'd bet Newcastle won't sell. In fact, I'd bet even he'd put money on it.
21 Jun 2026 13:14:24
Tonali is a superb player. I've met him twice back when he was still at Brescia and at the time shared on these boards that he was taking English lessons (though I didn't know he would eventually leave for Newcastle) and that he was receiving personal coaching lessons on reading the game and movement from Roberto Baggio.
If we can get him, then he'd be a good buy in my opinion.
21 Jun 2026 13:57:00
I'd love Tonali in our team, he has everything we need, but let's face it, Newcastle wouldn't sell us another big player after we got Isak n Ekitike.
21 Jun 2026 14:06:13
Strom, don't forget Munoz too.
21 Jun 2026 14:46:56
No offence taken, MK Scouser, always happy to be proven wrong, and I have only seen a little of Newcastle. My observation was Guimares and Joelington are the legs, and Tonali is the technical player. He might be one of those players that are quick but look slow, if you know what I mean.
Not sure Newcastle would welcome much business with us, though. ?
21 Jun 2026 15:18:40
That's Mainoo and Mount, he burnt in that video, might as well be me chasing him. Not saying he's slow, he is actually quite fast for a central midfielder, definitely top 10. I do rate him, he would be a huge improvement on MacAlister, no doubt about it.
21 Jun 2026 16:54:30
LFC08, could it be that we were carrying slow players last season cos they were literally being asked to play, I don't know, slowly? Szob, Grav, Frimpong, Gakpo are not known to be snails, cos we saw them play under Klopp, who doesn't play slow footie, and they could cope.
So I don't get that point.
As for Tonali, he is a very good player with legs and pace to burn and covers a lot of ground, all the things Szobo excels at, so don't see where he would fit in, except if we want extra runners in there, which makes the mid. unbalanced.
21 Jun 2026 17:00:10
Much prefer us to get Tonali than Wharton. But if maca is staying, I wouldn't bother either of them.
21 Jun 2026 18:03:44
Zed, I was softening the blow by not mentioning Munoz, in case we made a cheeky bid for Tonali ha.
21 Jun 2026 18:12:23
I'd rather have Darwin Nunez.
{Ed025's Note - why RP..are you looking to start a clown school mate.. :)
21 Jun 2026 20:24:05
If he had clown shoes on ed mate, he might hit the target a bit more often! Probably wouldn't help with being caught offside though.
{Ed025's Note - he could be off by a toe if he was on the edge of his own box RP.. :)