Yusupha Yaffa 'lied about his age when joining AC Milan' after Italian authorities claim he is 28, not 19
Yaffa signed for Milan's academy in 2013 but Italian authorities claim he was 25 and not 16 like he told the club
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Former AC Milan forward Yusupha Yaffa has been summoned to court in Italy after allegedly lying about his age and telling the Serie A club that he was 16 years old when he signed for them in 2013, only for it to be claimed that he was actually 25.
Yaffa, who now plays for German side MSV Duisburg having left Eintracht Frankfurt on loan, joined Milan’s youth set-up three years ago before going on to become a regular in their Under-19 side.
However, according to newspaper Gazetta dello Sport, Italian authorities claim that when Yaffa lost his identity papers during his asylum registration in 2009, he stated that his birthday was 31 December 1996, when his real birth date is said to be the 14 February 1987.
Should the case prove true, it means that Yaffa managed to convince Italian authorities that he was 13 years old when really he was 22. Yaffa now faces a charge of fraud back in Italy, and it’s added that the investigation only started after comments were made on Facebook by Yaffa in which he spoke of his previous schooling and not his current one, given he was alleged to be 16 yars old at the time.
Gambian Yaffa has denied the charge, while former head coach Filippo Inzaghi and club executives Adriano Galliani and Barbara Berlusconi could all be required to attend the trial to give evidence.
Yaffa was also arrested in January 2015 for rape after an incident at a team-mate house. His club, Eintracht Frankfurt, posted the €100,000 bail meaning that Yaffa only spent one night in custody. But should the allegations of Yaffa giving false information surrounding his age prove true, he could then be tried in a regular court as opposed to a juvenile one, meaning any sentence could be considerably higher in the event of a conviction.
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