Sept 13 (Askume) – Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe is delighted to have Sandro Tonali return to the Italy squad after the midfielder was found guilty of breaching betting rules.and suspended for 10 months .
Tonali represented Italy in two Nations League games this month against Israel and France. This is the first time the former AC Milan player has played for the national team since being suspended by the Italian Football Federation in October last year.
“I’m excited to see him play,” Howe told reporters Friday. “He did a great job and he would have benefited greatly from those games.”
“This is his first step and we are happy to have him on board. Sandro has the talent and ability to do something different. He is a player we really like.”
Howe said all the players who played internationally in the past two weeks had returned in good condition, including Brazilian Bruno Guimaraes, who came on as a first-half substitute in Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to Paraguay.
However, the manager said striker Callum Wilson, who has been sidelined with a back injury, has not yet taken part in training.
“Callum is a little bit behind where we wanted him to be. We thought he would be training for the upcoming Olympics but he’s not there yet,” he said.
Howe said Newcastle United beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in their last game and have taken seven points from three games. They will challenge Wolves on Sunday and hope to maintain their form.
“Performance-wise we are not at the top level yet,” he said.
“We have been good in different phases of every game, but we have not been able to show consistency over the 90 minutes, which is what we want to do… because we are entering a period where we have to play some games now. During a period of away games.
