Since yesterday, Radja Nainggolan has been released on probation after spending a night in prison in Belgium. The former Cagliari midfielder, who signed for Lokeren in the second division last week, is formally investigated for participation in a criminal organization accused of drug trafficking from South America to Europe. After his arrest on Monday morning, the interrogation and the probation measure .
Among those who know Nainggolan well is his first president at Cagliari, Massimo Cellino. Who defends him without any doubts: "I asked myself if it was a joke", said the current owner of Brescia, in an interview with Corriere della Sera, about the arrest. " When I received a notification on my cell phone about the accusation against Radja, drug trafficking, I immediately thought it was a clickbait headline. I would give an arm, convinced of his integrity . Like when they told me that another ex of mine, Sandro Tonali, was involved in the betting scandal". He too, like the Ninja's lawyer, denies any involvement .
Nainggolan's arrest took place last Monday , January 27, exactly 15 years after his transfer to Cagliari was made official: it was Cellino who bought him from Piacenza in Serie B, in the winter market of 2010, in an operation that also involved Mikhail Sivakov . And the Belgian was also Cellino's last real transfer at the helm of Cagliari, in January 2014 to Roma (five months before selling the club to Tommaso Giulini). "He could drink a bottle of whisky but then be able to win matches on his own," Cellino recalls. "For me he was like a son. He's a fragile boy: he never gave me the idea that he was inclined to commit crime, if anything he was just weak in the face of vices."
Cellino revealed that he spoke to Nainggolan a few months ago: «He called me and told me "when you return to Serie A, take me to Brescia", I replied "let's not hurt each other"». And, from the four years together in Cagliari, he recalls another episode: «I was under arrest for the investigation into the work on the Is Arenas stadium. I turned on the TV and saw him with his red Apache crest. I called him and shouted "Look, I'm coming and I'll cut off your head, not just your hair". He immediately shaved himself ».
And as for former Cagliari players, yesterday, Cellino at Brescia fired Pierpaolo Bisoli (one of Nainggolan's first coaches in red and blue) and recalled Rolando Maran (with whom the Ninja returned to Sardinia in 2019).