After coach Simone Inzaghi, Inter midfielder Hakan Çalhanoğlu also confirmed that he had contact in recent months with key figures of the Curva Nord Milano.
He made this admission during his testimony to investigators from Milan's Squadra Mobile as part of the 'Due Curve' (Double Curve) investigation by the Milan Anti-Mafia Directorate (DDA), which on September 30 led to the dismantling of the leadership of Inter and Milan’s organised supporters with 19 arrests.
The Turkish footballer, heard as a person informed on the facts but not under investigation, admitted to having known both Marco Ferdico and Antonio Bellocco, the other ultras leader killed on September 4 in Cernusco sul Naviglio, and "to having had personal relations" with them, even though "the club had told us not to have contact with the ultras."
Çalhanoğlu stated that he maintained those relations out of gratitude since the 'Curva Nord' had shown him great support in the days following the earthquake in Turkey with a banner, and that he only realised it was really Bellocco "after seeing the photograph following the news of his murder."
The footballer later denied having gone to dinner with him and their families and declared that he had never been pressured in any way.
