Newcastle United's decision to sell Sandro Tonali to Tottenham Hotspur for £100million has been described as 'very good business' by the Magpies, even if it is a 'very good signing' for the north London club.
That is the view of former Chelsea midfielder and ITV pundit Andy Townsend whose valuation of Tonali is 'at around £75million'.
Deal details and reaction
Tonali made the move to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium earlier this month with Newcastle deciding early to sell him this summer before extracting a huge fee for his services.
That should give them a good run at signing a quality replacement given it is still six weeks until the end of the transfer window and Townsend feels Newcastle deserve praise for holding firm to their valuation of the Italy international.
"Nottingham Forest have got great money for Elliott Anderson. Whilst Tonali's fee is a little bit lower, to get a hundred million pounds from Spurs is very good business," Townsend told Casino Hawks.
"I like the player, he's very fast across the ground, which is so important in Premier League football. He can really run. He's aggressive."
"He can do a little bit of everything, and I think at Spurs right now, that's a very good signing. My valuation of Tonali is at around seventy-five million, he is at that sort of level."
"But that extra thirty million over a five-year deal, in current money, isn't a deal-breaker. It's a figure you might not like the sound of at first, but when you analyse the numbers, it's only another four million a year over a five-year period."
Spurs perspective
"It really isn't a deal-breaker. That's why these deals get done now. Spurs will probably look at it thinking that if they have three very good years out of him and he leaves with a year or two to go, they'll still get good money back."
"But I like the player, and if you want to get players through the door early in a transfer window, then you've got to pay a little bit more. You have all this faffing around waiting until a week before the end of the window before you spend your money."
"Tottenham have had a couple of close shaves recently with their status, they don't want to mess around for twenty million. Go and get what the manager wants early. Then you can get everyone sorted and ready to go, and that makes good sense."
Newcastle's midfield targets
The Magpies remain in the market to sign a new midfielder and have held exploratory talks over signing Spurs midfielder Lucas Bergvall. Botafogo star Danilo Santos also features highly in their thinking.
