How Newcastle beat Chelsea to signing of Tonali

Chelsea were among the clubs interested in Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali, but the Blues reportedly made swap deal offers, while Newcastle proposed a higher fee.

Tonali is set to join Newcastle for more than €70m. The Magpies saw an opening €60m bid rejected on Wednesday but then raised their proposal and reached an agreement with the Rossoneri star.

Milan and Newcastle are set to discuss the latest financial details in the coming hours, but Tonali’s transfer is pretty much done and sealed.

According to Gazzetta, Chelsea were also in the race for the Italy international ‘until 24-48 hours ago.’

However, the Blues’ offer was nowhere near Newcastle’s as they wanted to include one of their players in a swap deal. The pink paper claims Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christian Pulisic and, probably, Cesare Casadei were among the Chelsea players Milan could pick.

However, the Rossoneri prioritised a cash offer, so Newcastle managed to beat their Premier League rivals to the signing of Tonali.