Aston Villa and Nicolo Zaniolo could be set for good news over his involvement in the Italian football betting scandal as ‘basically there’s no evidence’ against him.
That’s according to Gazzetta dello Sport, who say the midfielder could be set to avoid the same punishments as Nicolo Fagioli and Sandro Tonali.
The latter two have presented their testimonies to the Turin Prosecutor’s Office and prosecutor Manuela Pedrotta, who is coordinating the investigation into illegal betting platforms.
The Aston Villa player is set to appear in the next few days, towards the end of this week or during next week, but Zaniolo isn’t as keen as the other two to get his case across.
Thus, there is a delay, with the prosecutors preferring to complete their work analysing various electronic devices that were seized in Coverciano last Thursday.
A big plus point for him is that neither Tonali or Fagioli have named him and so far the prosecutors have not ‘gathered any evidence against him’. Basically, there is no evidence that the Aston Villa man is involved despite recent claims from Fabrizio Corona.
That’s been Zaniolo’s standpoint from the beginning, with him insisting he never bet on football but blackjack and poker and that he never knew the platforms were illegal.
That line has been continued by his lawyers Antonio Conte and Gianluca Tognozzi, who are now waiting for a date to be set for Zaniolo to meet and state his case once more.
He currently risks a fine at worst as his involvement is not seemingly as deep as Tonali and Fagioli. There is no evidence he bet on football, but his agents are investigating the claims from Corona, nonetheless.
A big plus point for the player is that Aston Villa, and particularly Monchi, are reiterating their support and have already given their approval for him to travel to Turin when he is asked to do so.
Whether he plays this weekend is now up to Unai Emery.
