Nicolo Fagioli, a Juventus player, has officially been suspended for seven months, while Newcastle star Sandro Tonali is facing a longer ban. Tonali participated in the last 21 minutes of Newcastle's Premier League victory against Crystal Palace last Saturday and received a warm welcome, with host team fans raising a banner in his honor. Eddie Howe acknowledged that the midfielder now faces an uncertain future, stating, "Who knows what awaits us? He enjoyed the love of the fans today, but it is hard to maintain that for a long time." There are now concerns that Tonali may be suspended for an extended period due to his involvement in an ongoing investigation in Italy related to illegal betting.
The crisis began when Fabrizio Corona, a controversial media figure in Italy known as the "King of Photographers," claimed on August 2 that Juventus and Italy midfielder Nicolo Fagioli was suffering from a "serious gambling addiction" and was burdened with debts as a result. On October 10, the newspaper "La Stampa" revealed that Fagioli is under investigation in Turin as part of inquiries into illegal online betting platforms. Subsequently, the player's legal representatives issued a statement asserting that their client was fully cooperating with authorities and was the first to inform the Italian Football Federation about his involvement in the matter at the end of August.
The statement read: "In reference to the news appearing in the press today, we can state that our client is facing the issue with responsibility and utmost transparency, cooperating with the judicial authorities." Corona later claimed that "Juventus was aware of Fagioli's situation as of August 1 and failed to inform the judicial authorities." However, the club quickly responded, confirming: "Regarding what has been reported by some media outlets, Juventus immediately contacted the federal prosecutor's office of the Italian Football Federation upon learning about the potential involvement of its player Nicolo Fagioli in the betting case."
Tonali and Zaniolo Involved
Two days after La Stampa's report, police officers arrived at the Italian training camp in Coverciano to question both Tonali and Nicolo Zaniolo and inform them that they would be investigated by the Turin prosecutor's office. The duo was promptly excluded from the Italian national team camp. The Italian Football Federation issued a statement saying: "Regardless of these allegations, we believe that the players are not in the right condition to meet the commitments scheduled for the upcoming days; therefore, the federation decided to protect them and allow them to return to their clubs."
Italian coach Luciano Spalletti expressed no concerns regarding the decision to exclude the players, stating the following day: "When you need to achieve good results, there is always anxiety before a match, but it was a different night, full of sadness for what happened. The whole team is close to Tonali and Zaniolo; we are very sorry for them and will continue to be close to them, although in highlighting them, we should try to help them defend themselves." He added, "But it is also right that justice takes its course, and if violations have been committed, they have the right to pay the price for that."
