Alessandro Florenzi is suspected of being guilty of illegal gambling practices. According to the Italian news agency AGI, an investigation has been launched into the AC Milan defender.
The Italian football world was recently rocked when it became clear that Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Zaniolo had left the national team’s training camp to be questioned by the police. Tonali (ten months suspension) and Zaniolo (fine) were convicted. Zaniolo did not bet on football, which allowed him to avoid a suspension.
It later became clear that Juventus midfielder Nicolò Fagioli had been guilty of illegal gambling practices. He was suspended for seven months. His suspension was relatively low, as he already indicated at an earlier stage at Juventus that he was struggling with a gambling addiction. His debt amounted to 2.7 million euros last month.
Florenzi grew up at Roma, but is now wearing the Milan shirt for the third consecutive season. The public prosecutor in Turin has started an investigation into Florenzi, who played in Milan with Tonali, who has since left for Newcastle United. At Roma he was Zaniolo’s teammate. It is quite possible that Florenzi will be interrogated in the coming days.
Tonali’s suspension is a hard blow for Newcastle United, which at the beginning of this month did not rule out taking legal action against AC Milan, which sold Tonali last summer. “It’s very difficult for me to comment on what other clubs know or don’t know,” said sporting director Dan Ashworth. “All we can do is look at our own internal investigation and internal processes.”
“That’s a very difficult question for me to answer,” he said when asked whether he thinks Milan knew more. “I just don’t know. It was a huge shock, a big surprise. Dealing with it is something new for all of us. It came out of nowhere.”
Fagioli’s gambling addiction is said to have started with betting on tennis matches. Afterwards he also started betting money on football matches – according to himself, not on matches of his own club. Things are said to have gotten worse in September of last year. Fagioli then returned to Juventus after spending a season on loan at Cremonese. During the investigation, he pointed the finger at Tonali.