Juventus Ready To Extend Nicolò Fagioli’s Contract Despite 7-Month Ban

The future might after all be bright for Nicolò Fagioli, the Juventus midfielder that just received a seven-month ban for being found guilty of illegal betting.

As reported by major news outlets in Italy, Serie A giants Juventus are showing full support to their player by extending the terms of his contract until June 2028.

Fagioli is amongst other Italian professional soccer players involved in the most recent gambling scandal, with the list also featuring Newcastle United midfielder Sandro Tonali and Aston Villa winger Nicolò Zaniolo.

“I thought of starting by apologizing not only to the Bianconeri fans, but to all soccer and sports fans around the world, for the naive mistake I’ve made,” read the message posted by Fagioli two weeks ago on his personal Instagram account.

Thanks to his confessions and willingness to cooperate during the investigation carried out by the Italian soccer federation (FIGC), the 22-year-old midfielder dodged the three-year ban that is usually inflicted on professional athletes for this type of gambling offense.

Fagioli’s total penalty has been reduced to seven months, in addition to another five of “alternative prescriptions,” a term used by the FIGC to describe mandatory duties that the athlete will have to perform, including attending therapy sessions and making public appearances.

The news came just a year after Fagioli’s Serie A debut with Juventus, the club that formed him as a player throughout the academy.

He first grabbed the headlines a year ago, when he scored an impressive curler that broke the deadlock in the Lecce-Juventus game and handed the Bianconeri three clutch points. The following week, he netted another goal in his side’s 2-0 win over archenemies Inter, which quickly turned him into a fan favorite.

This year, however, the investigation cut short what was supposed to be Fagioli’s coming-of-age season at Juventus, where he had the chance to establish himself as a regular starter in one of Europe’s most prestigious sides.

And while Fagioli is allowed to continue training with the club, he will be sitting out of official games until May 19, 2024. He is expected to return on the pitch for the final matchday of the 2023/24 Serie A campaign, when Juventus are scheduled to host Monza at Turin’s Allianz Stadium.

The betting scandal might have tarnished Fagioli’s reputation, but it seems not to have undermined Juventus’s beliefs in the young footballer’s talents.

Just a few weeks after the punishment came into effect, the Bianconeri are ready to extend the length of Fagioli’s deal, as first reported by Italian transfer expert Gianluca di Marzio. Fagioli will thus stay in Turin for another five years, with his contract expiry date now reading June 30, 2028.

Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport explains that Fagioli will receive a salary bump, going from €1 million to €1.5 million, a move that is also aimed at helping the player extinguish his gambling debts.

The two parties should make it official in the upcoming days.

“We are firmly convinced that Nicolò, with the support of the club, teammates, family members and professionals that are helping him, will face the therapeutic and formative path with great sense of responsibility and, once his ban is over, he will go back to competing with the necessary peace of mind,” read the note that Juventus recently published on their official website.

In a league that laments the lack of homegrown talent, Juventus are ready to go against the tide and bank on a young Italian soccer player during the most complicated moment of his professional career.