'Misconduct charge': Sandro Tonali facing further punishment after being found guilty of breaching FA rules

Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali is facing a further punishment after the FA have found him guilty of breaching their Betting Rules.

The Magpies will already not see their £55million summer signing in action again until four games into next season as he's not even allowed to partake in friendlies unless they are played behind closed doors.

Now today the FA and Newcastle United have announced that the 23-year-old, who was being investigated for breaching the FA's betting rules following his summer move to the Premier League, has been found guilty of breaching the rules while in England.

It was an inevitability, really. After being found guilty in Italy, Tonali admitted to being a gambling addict and has since been seeking help. Given his addiction, it was very, very unlikely that he just stopped what he was doing when he got his move to Newcastle and will only have stopped after it became a problem.

Newcastle United released a statement that gave very little away

In a statement released by the club, they acknowledged the charge and said that Tonali is complying with the investigation but gave very little away.

"Newcastle United acknowledges a misconduct charge received by Sandro Tonali in respect of alleged breaches of FA Betting Rules.

"Sandro continues to fully comply with relevant investigations and he retains the club's full support.

"Due to this ongoing process, Sandro and Newcastle United are unable to offer further comment at this time."

Tonali has been found of a further 50 breaches of Rule E8

Meanwhile, the FA put out a similar statement, adding that Tonali has until 5th April to lodge an appeal. Although it doesn't sound like he will if he's accepted the charge already and is complying with the investigations.

"Sandro Tonali has been charged with misconduct in relation to alleged breaches of the FA's Betting Rules.

"It's alleged that the Newcastle United midfielder breached FA Rule E8 50 times by placing bets on football matches between 12th August 2023 and 12th October 2023.

"Sandro Tonali has until 5th April 2024 to respond."

Newcastle now await news on any further punishment for Tonali

Now it just remains to be seen what this means for the midfielder and whether the FA will throw a further ban our way or whether they will be lenient given his compliance with the investigation and accept that he's been punished enough.

Tonali has been attending a rehab program as part of his initial punishment which also included that 10-month ban, but given he has been found guilty of a further 50 breaches, the FA may want to make an example of him.

Recently, Paul Merson spoke out about the fact that the governing bodies are handing out bans for people with addictions rather than helping them, but we'll soon see if he was just shouting into the void.