Newcastle's list of ideal Sandro Tonali replacements features key Man Utd and Liverpool transfer targets

Newcastle's list of potential replacements for Sandro Tonali contains previous Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United targets.

Tonali has been banned from football for 10 months by the Italian football federation (FIGC) for rule breaches relating to betting on football.

In a statement, FIGC president Gabriele Gravina confirmed that Tonali had reached a plea agreement with the federal prosecutor.

The plea agreement will span 18 months, of which eight months is for 'rehabilitation, which involves therapeutic activity and making at least 16 public appearances'.

Gravina added: "The rules call for a certain number of years of suspension, but the plea bargain and extenuating circumstances have been taken into consideration and the players' collaboration went above and beyond, therefore we must continue to respect the rules we have established for ourselves."

In the short-term, attention for Newcastle turns to who will replace Tonali, with the midfielder out of action for the remainder of the 2023/24 season.

They have been linked with a move for Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay, although a move for the Scot may prove challenging given his recent resurgence at Old Trafford.

Meanwhile, The Athletic have used data from smarterscout to assess the most similar midfielders to Tonali, both in terms of impact and playstyle, based on their 2022/23 season performances.

Several names that are similar to the Italian have been linked with moves to Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal in recent transfer windows.

Torino's Ivan Ilic has a similarity score of 89.9 per cent, and Arsenal were said to be tracking the Serbian last year.

Correire dello Sport claimed that the Gunners sent scouts to watch Ilic in September 2022, when he was playing for Hellas Verona.

Having switched clubs at the beginning of the year, Arsenal could revisit a potential move again in January.

Celta Vigo midfielder Gabri Veiga, meanwhile, was linked with all three clubs before completing a move to Saudi Arabian club Al Ahli in the summer.

The 21-year-old attacking midfielder, who scored 11 goals in 36 games for Vigo last season to guide them clear of La Liga relegation, has a 69.3 per cent similarity score in comparison to Tonali.

And both Khephren Thuram and Manu Kone were heavily linked with moves to Liverpool in the summer as the Reds looked to overhaul their engine room.

Both players, though, stayed at Nice and Borussia Monchengladbach respectively as the Reds explored other options - and could now sign for Newcastle in January.

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