Sandro Tonali was sold by AC Milan in the summer of 2023 and shortly thereafter, it was revealed that the midfielder is suffering from gambling addiction. Having placed bets on football games, which is not allowed, he’s currently serving a suspension.
Tonali was a very important player for Milan up until the sale to Newcastle in 2023, leaving for a fee of around €70m. At the time, many fans thought it was a great shame but it also helped fund the summer mercato, with the Rossoneri spending around €120m.
In October, however, Tonali was handed a ten-month ban for betting on football and reportedly even on Milan on a few occasions. It was also established that the 23-year-old is suffering from gambling addiction, with an eight-month treatment program added to the sentence.
The likes of Nicolo Zaniolo and Milan defender Alessandro Florenzi were also implicated in the overall investigation. However, both made it clear that they had only played table games such as poker. And that, or to play online slots for real money, is not against any rules for footballers.
“As we already wrote in the statement that we released to the media, Florenzi is in no way accused of anything regarding football bets, they are merely personal bets that we clarified. I hope there will be no more to say, it is a very similar situation to Zaniolo. This has absolutely nothing to do with the world of football,” Florenzi’s lawyer stated.
Even if Florenzi was cleared, Milan fans were indeed worried for a second as it felt like additional names would emerge as well. The whole betting scandal has thankfully died down since, and one must applaud FIGC’s Federal Prosecutor as well as all the parties involved for handling it swiftly.
Tonali, meanwhile, will be back in time for the 2024-25 season and given his obvious qualities, one can only hope that the treatment program will help him overcome his addiction. Milan have reiterated their innocence in the matter, unaware of the midfielder’s struggles, and this is something Newcastle have accepted.
“What Milan knew at the point of the deal? It’s really difficult for me to get into what other clubs do or don’t know All we can do is look at our own internal investigation and internal process”, Newcastle director Dan Ashworth said via Fabrizio Romano.
Given the timing of the sale, Newcastle are right to be suspicious but if Paolo Maldini had remained as the technical director of Milan, then Tonali most certainly wouldn’t have been sold.
