Newcastle started the new season with a convincing 5-1 victory over Aston Villa. Newcomers Sandro Tonali and Harvey Barnes each scored, and Alexander Isak also showed his skill with two elegant goals.
Pat Nevin, a former Everton and Scotland winger analyzing for BBC 5 Live, praised Tonali's performance. Tonali, who Newcastle acquired from AC Milan for £55m, was compared by Nevin to a modern midfield play icon.
"Newcastle fans are going to like Tonali if he keeps on playing like this," said Nevin. "If you look at him and Guimaraes in midfield, that is a spectacular partnership.
"Tonali was absolutely everywhere. He has a confident arrogance about himself. Just everything he does - his cross-field balls, his comfort and confidence on the ball - he has the arrogance of [Andrea] Pirlo on the ball."
"He looks like the absolute complete midfielder. Everyone else was running around at top speed and he just seemed completely in control at every moment."
Alan Shearer was also impressed by Tonali's performance saying that even for a £55m Italian might turn out to be a "bargain".
"As debuts go, this was as good as it gets - what a magnificent start to his Newcastle career," said Shearer on Match of the Day.
"It was the perfect midfield performance; a goal, an assist, tackles, great range of passing, late runs into the box, getting stuck in, did his bit defensively - he was involved in almost everything."
"When you compare some of the prices that have been paid for midfielders and are about to be paid for them, I know it is early days... but he might turn out to be a bargain."
