Monchi texted Aston Villa players – wanted to focus on the match
Aston Villa director of football Monchi spoke to Nicolo Zaniolo about the betting scandal that forced him to leave the Italy squad this week.
This is according to Gazzetta dello Sport, which is reporting on the player today amid the ongoing scandal involving Zaniolo, Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Fagioli.
Zaniolo left this week for Italy based at the Coverciano technical center following a police raid where his phone, tablet and other electronic devices were confiscated as part of the investigation about illegal online betting.
The Aston Villa midfielder could face a three-year ban if found guilty, although he insists he did nothing other than bet on poker and blackjack.
The newspaper said he returned to Birmingham yesterday after meetings with his agent and lawyer in which he insisted he had done nothing wrong.
“I don’t bet, and even less bet on football. I played on online platforms that I didn’t know were illegal, but poker or ‘blackjack’,” he said.
“There is nothing more, and I am extremely sorry because between Aston Villa and the national team, everything is finally going well at the moment.”
He also spoke to the club, in particular director of football Monchi, who gave a calm response and emphasized that if the player was telling the truth there was nothing to worry about.
La Gazzetta said he asked the players to “think carefully about training because we have to win the next match” and do nothing more despite the evolution of the situation and the investigation. So Zaniolo yesterday left Birmingham to continue training under Unai Emery but will return to Italy early next week to speak to the Turin prosecutor’s office and make further statements along with the law monk Antonio Conte.
The reaction from him as well as Aston Villa at this time seems calm, waiting to see how the situation develops.
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