Tonali has started cooperating with the investigations into the betting case. He stated it yesterday at the Public Prosecutor's Office in Turin, during an interrogation which lasted almsot three hours.
The Prosecutor, Giuseppe Chinè, has met with the Newcastle midfielder. The former Milan player has therefore self-reported to the sports justice body and has certainly admitted to having placed bets on football, including AC Milan.
Now, the situation becomes different, as per La Gazzetta dello Sport. Betting on one's own team is risky becuase it could consitute as a crime of sports misconduct. The article in the Code that regulates this, number 30, is clear and speaks of "carrying out, by any means, acts aimed at altering the course or result of a match or competition."
It seems, however, that this is not Tonali's case. The player, now at Newcastle, would have bet on Milan winning or on other results when he was absent. In short, his bets would not have in any way affected his performance on the field, so there would be no sports misconduct.
At the moment, the violation contested to Tonali remains within the scope of article 24 of the Sports Justice Code, which punishes players who bet on football (minimum penalty three years), but it is evident that betting on Milan constitutes an aggravating factor. Possible sanction The midfielder would like to follow the path taken by Fagioli, with a plea deal in a short time (possibly less than a month), but it is clear that there are differences. The first is that if the bets on AC Milan were confirmed, the initial penalty from the Prosecutor's Office would necessarily be higher than three years.
It could likely be three and a half or four, automatically halved with the pre-deferral plea deal. So, since the boy has already shown himself to be cooperative, he could benefit from some mitigating factors like Fagioli. It is difficult to speculate on the final sanction today, but one could consider a 12-month suspension on the field and 6 months of alternative measures, similar to what was decided for the Juventus player, since Tonali has also stated that he suffers from gambling addiction.
It will certainly be crucial for the former Rossonero's version provided to Chinè to perfectly match what will emerge from the actions of the Prosecutor's Office in Turin, which seized Tonali's phone and tablet on Thursday in Coverciano. If something doesn't add up, things could change, and based on the findings, the penalty could increase significantly.
