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News
- 11 hours ago
Man Utd flop, Newcastle star and USMNT ace investigated over illegal website activity
Robin Bairner
- Updated: 11 Apr 2025 09:24 CDT
- 3 min read
News
Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali, former Manchester United star Angel Di Maria and USMNT star Weston McKennie could potentially find themselves in hot water as an investigation has been opened into numerous Serie A players over illegal website activity in Italy.
A report from the Corriere della Sera states that the Milan Prosecutor’s Office is investigating a raft of stars over claims they were “betting on illegal sites”.
Compared
Sandro Tonali
M (C)
Newcastle Utd.
Sandro Tonali
M (C)
Newcastle Utd.
VS
Ángel Di María
F, M (R)
Benfica
Ángel Di María
F, M (R)
Benfica
|
|
ETV |
|
| €46.9M - €57.3M | ETV Range | €1.7M - €2.5M |
| 24 years old (08 May, 2000) | Age | 37 years old (14 Feb, 1988) |
|
Italy
|
Nationality |
Argentina
|
There is no indication that any of the players who are being investigated over the claims have been involved in match-fixing.
Di Maria (Benfica), Alessandro Florenzi (AC Milan), Nicolo Zaniolo (Fiorentina), Mattia Perin and Weston McKennie (both Juventus), Leandro Paredes (Roma), Raoul Bellanova, Samuele Ricci (both Torino), Cristian Buonaiuto (Padova), Matteo Cancellieri (Lazio) and Junior Firpo (Leeds) face accusations of being embroiled in the drama.
As Corriere della Sera reports: “None of the players involved ever ‘sold’ games. Indeed some of them show that they mostly played in other disciplines, and say that the real motive between December 2021 and October 2023 was not so much trying to add to their fabulous salaries, but to fill the ‘too much’ free time in the retreats of their teams and particularly the national team.”
Tonali faces fresh legal issue
A jewellery store in Milan is said to be the centre of activity for this operation, with this used as a ‘bank’ to fund the gambling.
It is alleged that the debts they built up were paid off by the players ‘buying’ luxury watches in the store. This provided traceable bank transfers but, in fact, the items never left the shop. The players were left with the receipts of their simulated purchases.
Tonali and Fagioli have already served sporting bans for their actions but now face the prospect of legal action for “having played on illegal betting and poker platforms”.
Corriere della Sera claims that the Italy internationals are at the heart of the affair, “having advertised them among other footballers … in exchange with being rewarded by the managers of the illegal bookmakers with the crediting of bonuses to their gaming accounts or with reductions of their debts.”
While the issue is “not a huge problem from a criminal point of view”, the Italian source states, it could trigger a wave of new bans, such as that Tonali has already served.
