Newcastle chief set to turn to Saudi Arabia for transfers to replace banned Tonali but fears rivals will BLOCK moves

NEWCASTLE chief Dan Ashworth admitted the Magpies could look to Saudi in January to replace the banned Sandro Tonali. 

But Toon’s sporting director fears Premier League rivals will try to block such controversial moves. 

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Newcastle United chief Dan Ashworth has said the club could look to Saudi Arabia to find a replacement for Sandro Tonali[/caption]

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Newcastle are without Tonali for ten months after he was banned for illegal betting[/caption]

Italian midfielder Tonali, 23, was suspended for 10 months because of illegal betting less than four months after signing from AC Milan for £55million. 

And the Geordies have been eyeing up Al-Hilal’s Portuguese ex-Wolves star Ruben Neves as boss Eddie Howe tries to bolster his ranks.

Al-Hilal and Newcastle are both owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. 

And Ashworth said: “The current rules and regulations say there is nothing to stop it. 

“But there is a potential that the different organisations will look at things across related parties and what you can do to acquire players at a fair market value.

“There are lots of ways to do it and we are going to have to be quite creative. 

“We have got to do what is best for this football club and get the best players we possibly can for the budget we have got, and that is what my job is. We want to be active.”

“Gambling addict” Tonali was found to have placed bets on his former sides Brescia and AC Milan to win. 

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The Magpies have been linked with a move for Al Hilal midfielder Ruben Neves[/caption]

He is back training with Newcastle but will undergo eight months of therapy. 

The Mags, who have launched an internal investigation, would almost certainly not have signed the Azzurri international if they’d known this was on the horizon. 

And Ashworth added: “If you know a player is going to be out for 10 months, whether that’s through injury or something like this, you’d either have to look at the deal again or structure the deal in a different manner. 

“It was a massive shock and a massive surprise. It came from nowhere and Sandro feels that he’s let himself down. 

“For me, from the minute it happened, you look at yourself. What could we have done better? What could I have done better? Could we have known? Should we have known?

“I’ve been doing this for 16 years and nothing like this has happened before.   

“We haven’t come up with anything yet. Speaking to other sporting and technical directors it’s almost like, “How could you have known?”

Questions remain as to whether AC Milan, who visit St James’ Park in the Champions League in December, knew about the investigation into Sandro before selling him.

Newcastle are exploring all legal options, but Ashworth said: “‘It’s really difficult for me to get into what other clubs do or don’t know.

“All we can do is look at our own internal investigation and internal process. It’s a really difficult question for me to answer, I just don’t know.”

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Eddie Howe will have to plan for an extended period without Tonali[/caption]