Sandro Tonali's agent Giuseppe Riso has categorically denied that the midfielder could return to Serie A amidst reports that he is unhappy in England with Newcastle United.

The Italian's start to life under Eddie Howe was positive, with the 24-year-old scoring on his debut against Aston Villa on August 12, 2023.

However, Tonali was banned from playing football on October 26 that year for breaching Italian betting regulations, and only returned to action in August 2024.

The former AC Milan midfielder has started six of Newcastle's Premier League games this season, but rumours of a potential return to Italy surfaced in the past week, though his agent Riso ruled out such a move.

Riso said: "Sandro is absolutely not considering to return in Serie A. He's happy at Newcastle, happy to play in the best league in the world and he's an idol for #NUFC fans who've always supported Sandro in every moment."

Newcastle need to sell

Despite boasting the richest owners in world football, Newcastle have often been unable to spend their fortunes as a result of the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules.

Howe has worryingly said that he believes the club will have to sell players in order to strengthen in the upcoming transfer windows, telling reporters: "What I will say is that trading is essential, both in and out - to the model of PSR. The days where teams don't sell players are, unless your revenue streams are so big, are gone.

"Our revenue streams aren't where we want them to be. We are trying to grow them so I think trading in and out is going to be essential. Hopefully, it is not going to be players that we are forced to sell like we were in that situation [in June selling Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh].

"PSR will continue to be an issue for us for the next few years ahead, we're going to have to be smart and that's the key thing. We're going to have to be clever with what we do."

With such comments, fans have become increasingly worried about the team's ability to keep hold of star players such as Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes, who have been vital for the Toon's rise.

Are Newcastle stagnating?

Newcastle finished fourth in 2022-23 and qualified for the Champions League, with many assuming that the club would continue to take step forwards in their development.

While the Toon's seventh-placed finish last term was by no means a poor outcome considering the number of injuries they had to deal with last season, they are currently 12th in the Premier League and have looked increasingly vulnerable defensively.

In fact, Newcastle's 4-2 loss against Brentford on December 7 meant that the team have now conceded 21 times in the top flight, just 12 fewer than they did in the entirety of 2022-23.

There have been rumours that boss Howe could soon be dismissed, but unless the club are allowed to spend more of their fortunes, then any new manager would likely face the same difficulties as the Englishman.

Regardless, fans will hope that Tonali stays at the club and is able to showcase why Newcastle spent more than £60m to bring him to the club.