Gianluca Gaetano, Napoli midfielder, has been suspended for two games by the federal prosecutor’s office in Italy. The Italian, who played on a rental basis for Cremonese in Serie B last year, will receive this penalty for a joke on Whatsapp. On May 2, in the run-up to the Como – Cremonese match, he sent a message to opponent Vittorio Parigini of Como before their duel. It was a final and decisive game, which was eventually won 1-2 by Cremonese, which was partly promoted.
“Will you leave the three points to us on Friday?” Gaetano sent to Parigini, supplemented with two smiling emojis. The federal prosecutor’s office takes match-fixing-related messages very seriously and therefore could not laugh at the message, forcing Gaetano to watch two games in the upcoming season. The message ended up under a magnifying glass by the authorities, who also fined Gaetano 4,500 euros in addition to the suspension.
Gaetano is an Italy Under-21 international and a Napoli youth product. The 22-year-old attacking midfielder cum winger has so far played for Napoli in Serie A four times. Cremonese hired the youngster for two seasons in a row. A division lower, Gaetano got to play significantly more. He scored 15 goals and 10 assists in 84 appearances. Although Gaetano has since returned to Napoli, Cremonese has also been fined for the incident.
The PhD student has to pay a fine of 5,000 euros to the federal package because of the messages sent by Gaetano. Gaetano himself misses the opening game at Napoli at Hellas Verona, and also has to miss the first home game of the season against Monza. Still, it seems that Cremonese will not suffer from this fine. The promotion to the Serie A has strengthened the club financially, so that it is now even making an attempt to bring Cyriel Dessers to Italy. According to The Latest Newspaper it is quite possible that Dessers will actually make the switch.