Last October, Aston Villa’s Nicolò Zaniolo was withdrawn from the Italy squad, along with Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali and Juventus’ Nicolò Fagioli, for his alleged involvement in a football betting scandal.
The 24-year-old was investigated by the Turin Prosecutor’s Office and unlike the other two, he admitted his involvement in betting on card games and not on football.
Gazzetta dello Sport state the Aston Villa player had to pay a fine, and then made a large voluntary donation to a hospital in La Spezia.
Today’s edition of the newspaper has a detailed interview with the winger, and he was asked how he feels now about the saga.
“Better of course, but I had already started to feel this way after the meeting with the prosecutor, when the truth of what I said was ascertained,” he said.
On his experience of being investigated by the Turin Prosecutor’s Office, Zaniolo explained: “Even if everything went well, it wasn’t a good thing, but I can’t say anything about the investigations, you know.
“The important thing is that it’s over, but it’s bad to be dragged into the middle of a story like this without having done anything serious. Do you know how I experienced the arrival of the police in Coverciano? A nightmare.”
Aston Villa are currently fourth in the table, level on points with second placed Manchester City, and five points behind league leaders Liverpool. Gazzetta believe they are in contention to win the title, along with the two other clubs and Arsenal.
The former AS Roma man, who is currently on loan at Aston Villa from Galatasaray, won’t rule out his side’s chances of winning the title this season.
“Let’s hope. It would be a Leicester-style dream. Even going to the Champions League would be a triumph. City, Arsenal or Liverpool are stronger, but anything is possible,” he added.
Zaniolo returned to the Stadio Olimpico [Roma’s home stadium] with the national team recently, where he was booed by a section of the fans.
When asked if booing from the fans hurt him, he said: “I’m telling the truth: I was kind of expecting them.”
Now, after a dramatic few years, Zaniolo could probably do with settling down at Aston Villa for a while.
