They were surprised with their star signing at Newcastle’s training center this summer. The Arab-backed club had spent €60 million on Sandro Tonali, a lazy-faced boy who appeared with a forlorn expression when signing the contract. “He’s a talent, but I think he’s too shy,” Demetrio Albertini had said as the boy began to gain a foothold at Milan and comparisons were made with previous midfielders. Today, this shy man, the most expensive Italian football player in history, is asking for help to put his life back together after declaring himself addicted to gambling at the age of 23. “He is playing an important game against gambling addiction and he will win it. I hope that it will also help save the lives of many young people who are also affected by the same problem,” explains its representative Beppe Riso. But he faces a severe sentence that could include a three-year ban, which could be reduced to at least a year if extenuating circumstances such as a confession were taken into account.
It happens that Tonali admitted that he bet on matches he played with Milan and it does not matter that he did so for the benefit of his team and that there was no fraud that manipulated the results , as the association rules in Italy provide for strict sanctions against athletes and professionals or managers. who come into contact with bets on official association, UEFA or FIFA games.
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Tonali’s name came up during the interrogation of Nicolò Fagioli, a Juventus football player, who named him as an intermediary To him in illegal betting centers to which access is only possible by invitation. Fagioli, who is 22 and has accepted a seven-month sanction, confessed to receiving threats after accumulating debts of up to three million euros, which even led him to ask for loans from several colleagues. He came into play as a victim of apathy in a concentration game for the U21 team, of which Tonali was captain. Last spring he was substituted during a Juventus game in Sassuolo. He failed in several actions and had to go to the bench. “I cried and thought about my debts,” he explained during the investigation launched by the Turin public prosecutor’s office. Fagioli will soon begin therapy, which will last six months, and it is expected that Tonali will follow the same path. “Gambling addiction is a social plague. We must ensure that these children can come back healed. We will not let them down,” guarantees Gabriele Gravina, President of the Italian Football Federation.
The investigation shook Italian football with the full concentration of its team. Tonali and another teammate who was also examined, Nicoló Zaniolo, left the national team’s concentration. “We couldn’t take them to a game like the one at Wembley. It was a trauma for everyone because the investigators almost entered the locker room of our sports city. “The players were distraught,” said coach Luciano Spalletti, who had just lost two important parts of his team in the fight for qualification for the European Cup. But while Tonali has admitted that he has a problem, Zaniolo assures that he did not bet on sporting events, but on blackjack or poker. In this case, the Italian sports justice system, which is stricter than usual in these matters, could not intervene.
As the investigation uncovers the mess surrounding the seizure and examination of electronic devices, assigning blame and demanding assistance, there is also debate about the immediacy of the decisions and their impact on sports clubs. Currently only Fagioli is sanctioned. Tonali, who traveled to Turin this Tuesday to testify for almost three hours, trained with Newcastle upon his return to England and would be able to defend his team’s jersey next weekend or on Wednesday in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund . Zaniolo, an Aston Villa footballer, would be in a similar position. Newcastle said in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon that it stood ready to cooperate with “all relevant authorities” and pledged its support for Tonali and his family.
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