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Unai Emery hints at Nicolo Zaniolo difficulties caused by the ongoing investigation into an illegal betting scandal... but the Aston Villa manager insists the club are trying to help the struggling Italian

Unai Emery hinted Nicolo Zaniolo is struggling to find top form for Aston Villa amid the illegal betting scandal that has seen two of his Italy team-mates banned from football.

Zaniolo was questioned by investigators on October 27 regarding the situation, which has seen Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali and Juventus youngster Nicolo Fagioli banned for 10 and seven months respectively.

The 24-year-old was taken off at half-time for the second straight game as Villa suffered a shock 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest.

Zaniolo, who is on loan at Villa from Galatasaray, says he has never bet on football and speaking earlier this month, his lawyer Gianluca Tognozzi said: 'It's possible that he played card games like poker and blackjack on illegal platforms, without ever knowing what they were.