Unai Emery hints betting scandal may be impacting Nicolo Zaniolo's Aston Villa form

Zaniolo has been assisting the authorities in his homeland with their enquiries after first being questioned by police when on international duty last month.

The 24-year-old has maintained he never bet on football matches and the expectation, at this point, is he will receive a fine and no sporting sanction.

Villa have stood by Zaniolo, who joined in August on a season-long loan from Galatasaray. But after the forward was taken off at half-time for the second straight match during Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest, Emery hinted off-field matters may have been something of a distraction in recent weeks.

‘In terms of the individual circumstances and his mind, he has to try to be 100 per cent free to try to play and we are trying to do it (help him),” explained the boss.

“At the moment we are going well with him. We’re using him in one position. It is not his best position but he is helping us.

“I want to increase his level with us and I want to give him minutes to understand his team-mates, feeling good playing with us and progressively trying to forget the problems he had before.”

Investigators confiscated Zaniolo’s phone and other electronic devices after he was questioned at Italy’s training base last month. The player then travelled to Turin and spoke with prosecutors face-to-face the day after appearing as a substitute in Villa’s 4-1 Europa Conference League win at AZ Alkmaar.

Lawyers representing Zaniolo claim he only played casino games on websites he did not realise were illegal at the time. The use of gambling sites not licensed by the Italian state is punishable by a fine.

Any player found to have bet on football matches can be banned for up to three years under Fifa regulations. Two of Zaniolo’s Italy team-mates, Nicolo Fagioli and Sandro Tonali, have received suspensions after admitting such breaches. Tonali, who joined Newcastle from AC Milan for £52million in the summer, has been banned for 10 months.

Zaniolo has started six of Villa’s last seven matches but is still to score his first goal for the club.

The loan deal includes an option to buy which will become an obligation should certain clauses be met.