Spurs’ Tonali hunt shows chasm Newcastle must bridge

Aston Villa‘s 2024-25 end-of-season awards dinner was in full swing when Damian Vidagany took to the stage.

Villa’s director of football operations had a message for Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

“There is no big six anymore,” he declared to loud cheers 12 months ago.

Such a sentiment will have plenty of support on Tyneside.

Just as Aston Villa disrupted the established order to qualify for the Champions League in 2024 and 2026, so too did Newcastle United in 2023 and 2025.

Yet the league’s highest-earning clubs have hardly withered in the face of the challenge from outside the six, and Spurs’ pursuit of Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali is a reminder of that.

Just weeks after Roberto de Zerbi’s side narrowly avoided relegation on the final day, they are trying to lure one of Newcastle‘s best players to North London.

Newcastle hardly had a stellar season themselves – finishing a disappointing 12th place – but the difference is Spurs have greater revenues to fall back on as they try to bounce back come August.

Spurs’ most recent financial accounts showed they generated £230m more in income than Newcastle in 2024-25.

As a result, Spurs could offer far superior wages to Tonali and make a meaty bid of about £80m for the Italy midfielder – yet stay within the game’s financial rules.

That bid was unsuccessful and although Manchester City and Arsenal have yet to come to the table, Newcastle will be in a strong position to command a bigger fee if several teams make offers.

However, if Tonali does go, Newcastle will have lost three of their four best players in the space of a year after Alexander Isak was sold to Liverpool for £125m and Anthony Gordon moved to Barcelona for £69m.

Newcastle have had to become better sellers following years of imbalanced trading, but it still feels a world away from the feeling around the club going into last summer.

Eddie Howe and his players had not long ended a 70-year wait to win a major domestic trophy by defeating Liverpool in the EFL Cup final.

Newcastle had secured Champions League football for the second time in three seasons.

They had a degree of financial headroom again following several windows of relative parsimony.

Yet it was still a struggle for Newcastle to land their top targets – let alone keep hold of Isak.

“It was very difficult to attract the players that we wanted, that we felt could really make a difference to the team,” Howe said last month.

“I certainly don’t think that challenge is going to be easier. It’s going to be harder.”

Those words proved rather prophetic.

Newcastle managed to sign highly rated goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen from Stade de Reims for £18.5m before the window even officially opened.

However, just when it appeared they were in pole position to land top target Victor Munoz, the Spain winger joined Liverpool from Osasuna.

It felt like Groundhog Day for supporters after Joao Pedro, Hugo Ekitike, James Trafford and Benjamin Sesko opted to move to Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United respectively last summer.

Newcastle, as a result, moved further down their list of targets this time last year and, aside from defender Malick Thiaw, they have not yet seen enough of a return from a £100m-plus net spend.

The club cannot afford for history to repeat itself, but it is easy to forget the window only opened on 15 June.

It is also worth remembering that Newcastle have previously managed to attract a number of promising players.

Rather than making any guarantees about the team’s success, Howe’s pitches have instead centred on development, how his staff work and how they can help take a player’s game to another level.

Not every signing has gone on to thrive under Howe, but it was telling that Gordon repeatedly pointed to this “culture” of improvement at Newcastle as he sealed a dream move to Barcelona.

Another international, who followed Gordon to Newcastle, has also gone on to flourish.

“He wanted to come to Newcastle,” a source said.

“He had a couple of other opportunities but he had a good chat with the manager and believed in the project, the squad, the club and the league. That’s where he wanted to belong.

“His ambition is quite high. He wants to measure himself with the top elite players. It was just a match between Newcastle and him. There’s no doubt.”

The project is now entering a delicate phase, though.

There has been much talk about Newcastle somehow competing as one of the biggest clubs in the world by 2030 – but it feels like actions rather than words are needed in the coming months.

As the fifth anniversary of the Saudi-led takeover approaches in October, an announcement has still to be made on plans for a new state-of-the-art training ground following the identification of a site in Woolsington near Newcastle Airport.

Then there is the not-so-insignificant matter of the stadium, which feels pivotal in attempting to bridge a huge revenue gap in the years to come.

Newcastle once brought in £2.8m more in match-day income than Spurs when the latter played at White Hart Lane in 2007.

Although Spurs still generated more revenue overall, the gap stood at just £16m at the time.

However, in the respective clubs’ most recent accounts, that gap had widened to chasm – with Spurs bringing in 14 times their previous surplus.

That is in part because of a huge difference in match-day revenue between the clubs, with Newcastle‘s standing at £51.6m in 2024-25 compared to Spurs’ £126.5m.

Events and concerts as well as associated partnerships like the NFL and F1 Drive is another significant factor, helping the London club amass £277.1m in commercial revenue for that period compared to Newcastle‘s £120.2m.

Spurs’ ability to offset challenging domestic seasons with strong off-pitch revenue streams is one of the reasons football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes Newcastle will ultimately have to follow suit and build a new stadium – despite the emotional wrench of leaving St James’ Park.

“If the Newcastle owners want a football club which is regularly competing for one of the Champions League places, they have to move,” he said.

“If they want Newcastle to be a regular top-10 club competing in the Europa League and Europa Conference League, tweak St James’ Park.

“That’s how significant the decision is.”