Today’s affections and the role of parents, the house left at 15 and economic independence, card games with friends and hours on the cell phone: Nicolò’s world and that crack in which a hobby has become a vice
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GiovaAlbanese
– Turin
You find yourself with a cell phone in your hand, as if it were an island in which to take refuge. There is a fast-paced world around you: everyone would like to be you, but the good and the bad of what you have always dreamed of – and which, unlike others, you are truly experiencing, as a protagonist – often depends on nothing, on a ball that goes into the goal or hits the post or crossbar, from a (team) victory or a defeat that will weigh less if the decisive error was not yours. Nobody gives a damn about your twenties (or little more): the world of football moves fast, picks you up from home at a very young age and places adult responsibilities on your shoulders, with a full bank account that anyone would envy. Everything is fine, until a monster starts to make its way inside that cell phone. Most people who know Nicolò Fagioli personally don’t even believe the story about him, but he was the first to admit that he had exaggerated with the bets.
admission
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He made a mistake, he admitted it, he will pay for it. But it is truly absurd that few people around him – even his closest loved ones – did not realize what was happening to him, to bring him back on the right path. In fact, Nicolò is a bit solitary off the pitch: few people at his side, a dear friend who also acts as his driver (because the midfielder doesn’t drive), his girlfriend with whom he recently posed for a photo shoot photographic but which is not present in any recent social posts: the channels are well packaged on his activity as a footballer. He posted the last message after the derby, a black and white photo, a concentrated look: “Turin was and remains as in the photo”. He admitted the betting problem last summer, on August 30, immediately after being investigated for an illegal betting ring. A twenty-year-old boy perhaps doesn’t even imagine that one day his cell phone could end up in the hands of the police flying squad. Nicolò immediately became aware of his mistakes and also reported himself to the FIGC prosecutor’s office. He would never have bet on his matches, therefore not on Juventus: this does not justify him and the risk of disqualification remains, even if his collaborative approach could reduce the period of suspension. At least he hopes.
who is next to beans
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There must be a crack in Nicolò’s solitude that evidently pushed him to underestimate the problem. The 2001 born player left home very early, at 15 he was already a Juventus player who had snatched him from Inter by leveraging his Juventus faith, transmitted by his father, Marco, by his uncle, and by everyone in the family. Fagioli has always been a Juventus player and realized his dream of playing in the first team, his parents followed him along his growth path but without pressuring him: when Piacenza went bankrupt he moved to Cremonese, then destination Vinovo to give shape to the first wish of that child who had to grow up quickly, like his peers who bet everything on football. Now it is his mother who supports him in management, he gained economic independence early and evidently at a certain point he got lost. In the youth sector – in the club and in the national team – he often played cards with his teammates, small sums were played: there is nothing to imagine such a bad scenario, very sad for a talented young man who risks – together with other players of his age like Zaniolo and Tonali – to put their careers at risk.
who is nicolo
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All the coaches who have had Fagioli have always appreciated his quality, tactical intelligence and his predisposition to work by adapting to the technical needs of the team. Nicolò also established sincere relationships with some older teammates, from a very young age. But it is probable that he always kept his tendency to play to himself, guarded in those many hours spent alone to avoid the excessive pressure of popularity at the moment of maximum media exposure. Nicolò never forgave himself for the mistake: “I feel bad when I make a mistake in a game, I look at it after so many times”, he said when he played in the Primavera, aware that a perfect performance, above average, would always be expected of him, precisely for the his precious talent. Few historical friends, the agent (changed last summer to rely on an English agency) and a series of friendships linked to the world of football, established between Juventus and the national team. Cold but perhaps also a little fragile, a name that quickly became burdensome for the daily life of a twenty-year-old. Given the reactions that the betting case is triggering in recent days, however, it is clear that many professionals are aware of the tendency of many young athletes to spend their free time on virtual games: a vast world, in which the cracks of betting can open up , drawing from a pool of economic availability that is not usual for ordinary twenty-year-olds.
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