Aston Villa’s Nicolo Zaniolo is being left in limbo as the Turin Prosecutor’s Office take their time investigating his role in the Italian football betting scandal.
That’s according to Gazzetta dello Sport and Tuttosport, who cover the issue today and how Zaniolo is being left waiting for a resolution.
Starting with Gazzetta, they explain that Zaniolo is waiting for the prosecutor’s office to make a decision on his involvement, with them yet to examine his phone.
They say the player remains unconcerned and seems to have ‘put the bad thoughts’ out of his head, focusing on Aston Villa and doing well there.
He’s already spoken to Monchi and has his backing, and it is now up to Unai Emery to decide what to do with him, but the belief is that he will be called up for Sunday’s match against West Ham.
The prosecutors are yet to examine Zaniolo’s phone and ‘it will take a week’ for that to happen and useful information to be discovered, so the midfielder will be left in limbo until that point. He and his family insist he has not done anything wrong and only bet on blackjack and poker.
Tuttosport report that the midfielder has reiterated that stance and continues to do so when asked on the subject.
He’s ‘in a hurry’ to get the matter resolved but the prosecutor’s office are not and are leaving the Aston Villa man in limbo for the time being.
Unlike Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Fagioli, Zaniolo isn’t ‘cooperating’ or ‘confessing’ to anything, instead preferring to wait until his interviews to sit down and state his case.
That is not because his part is necessarily ‘ugly and bad’ and he wants to maintain silence, but because he continues to insist, as he has from the start, that he hasn’t bet on football matches.
His case, as far as he is concerned, is limited to playing poker and blackjack, albeit on illegal betting sites. The Aston Villa man maintains that he is not an addict, like the other two, and didn’t bet millions of Euros nor bet on football.
Thus, he believes he has not broken any rules, other than using the illegal sites, and will therefore only be fined €25,000 or more and not suspended from playing.
He and his team believe that the fact the prosecutor’s office have not yet summoned the player hints that they don’t have any jurisdiction and there is no evidence against him. They’re taking their time, despite Zaniolo and his lawyers insisting for a speeding up of the process.
Any summons now looks unlikely to happen until next week so Zaniolo will remain with Aston Villa, where he is training normally and will be a part of the squad for the clash with West Ham.
