AFP, Rome

Sandro Tonali and Nicolo Fagioli are again in investigators’ crosshairs in a new probe into betting on illegal gambling platforms, Italian news agencies reported on Friday.

ANSA and AGI report that Newcastle United midfielder Tonali and fellow Italy international Fagioli, who plays for Fiorentina, are among a dozen current or former Serie A players suspected of illicit betting activity.

Roma midfielder Leandro Paredes and Angel Di Maria, who played the 2022/23 season with Fagioli at Juventus, are two of the other footballers named by news agencies as suspects in an investigation by prosecutors in Milan.

Current Juve players Weston McKennie and Mattia Perin and Italy internationals Raoul Bellanova and Samuele Ricci are also among those being investigated for poker games and betting on sporting events -- but not on football matches -- on banned gambling platforms.

In a statement released Friday morning, the Milan prosecutor’s office announced that it had placed under house arrest “for illegal gambling activities and money laundering” five people who organised and managed the clandestine platforms from a jewelry store in the city.