Sandro Tonali has an addiction to gambling, says player's agent

The agent of Sandro Tonali has come forward to say that his player has a gambling addiction. Tonali recently exited the Italy national team prematurely during a probe analyzing bets. He is one of three players currently under fire for placing bets. However, there is still no information on the sporting integrity of these claimed bets. In other words, we still do not know if Tonali bet on his own play with Newcastle or Italy.

Tonali’s agent, Giuseppe Riso, confirmed the player’s struggles on Tuesday morning.

“Sandro suffers of gambling addiction. He’s fighting to avoid that and I’m sure he will win this difficult game,” Riso said. “He’s sad, he’s still in shock.”

Also on Tuesday, Tonali’s compatriot, Nicolo Fagioli, earned a ban of seven months for bets he placed. The Juventus midfielder allegedly bet on soccer. However, he did not bet on his own team. Still, he will miss the remainder of the club season with Juventus.

Fagioli’s case does directly correlate to Tonali’s. The Juventus midfielder says Tonali supplied him with the betting app that he used to bet on soccer. However, Tonali’s agent says the player does not see a suspension in the future. Instead, he believes Tonali will be able to feature this coming weekend.

Despite gambling addiction, Sandro Tonali is still ready to play

“I’d like to thank Newcastle as they are supporting Sandro. He’s training, and he could feature on Sunday,” Riso said.

Regardless, Sandro Tonali must face the personal and legal battle that will transpire because of his gambling addiction. His agent says the Italian is ready to take the struggles on to overcome them.

“I hope this gambling addiction issue will help to save Sandro’s life as well as many other young guys affected by same problem. Sandro understood that he has to focus on this issue and face gambling addiction with strong, determined approach.”

PHOTO: IMAGO / Sebastian Frej