On Thursday night, it was revealed that Sandro Tonali (and Aston Villa’s Nicolo Zaniolo) had been dropped from Italy’s team for the October internationals.

On Thursday night, it was revealed that Sandro Tonali (and Aston Villa’s Nicolo Zaniolo) had been dropped from Italy’s team for the October internationals.

The reason for this was because both players were under investigation in connection with allegations of illegal betting by Italian football players, with allegations that up to ten players were involved.

Juventus star Nicolo Fagioli had already admitted to breaching the tight betting laws that regulate individuals who play in Italian football.

There was an interesting development / update in the Italian media on Friday.

GFN Italy report for October 13, 2023:

Aston Villa’s Nicolo Zaniolo and Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali have both admitted to playing poker and blackjack while avoiding sports betting.

Yesterday, the Italy duo was questioned by police in the illegal betting case, following the questioning of Nicolo Fagioli by the Prosecutor, with the Juventus man disclosing ties with players after a comprehensive examination of his phone.

aLa Repubblica has now released more facts about Zaniolo and Tonali’s circumstances, noting that the two players were not immediately questioned by authorities after leaving Italy for training. Instead, they were probed by their family and agents in order to learn about a possible defense in the case.

Zaniolo had disclosed, practically in tears, that they had played poker and blackjack. Although Sandro Tonali admitted to it, both athletes distanced themselves from sports betting. They admitted to being pals with Fagioli, whose discussions indicate that they did actually gamble.

Having said that, investigators have yet to obtain clear evidence that they engaged in sports betting. To learn more, betting flows, payment methods, and VPNs are being probed.’

Obviously, we can’t assume that everything will come out fine, but I believe there is real hope for Newcastle United fans that this will turn out to be a non-story in terms of Sandro Tonali. If it comes out that his betting interests were limited to blackjack and poker rather than football.

The fact that the two players were pulled from the national squad at a time when Italy was facing two major games, Euros qualifiers against Malta and England, naturally made you fear the worse.

However, based on what has been published in Italy, it is more than plausible (likely?) that they were caught up in this unintentionally because of their acquaintance with Fagioli.