The lawyer for Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci has explained why they rejected a plea bargain in the betting trial.

Bonucci has been charged with sporting fraud due to his time at Bari and risks a three-and-a-half year ban, but is fighting the case and expects a verdict between Wednesday and Friday.

"The prosecutor offered us the opportunity to move the charge from sporting fraud to simply failing to alert authorities to a potential fix, but only if there were new facts that he was going to admit to," explained lawyer Giampietro Bianchi in Tuttosport.

"Bonucci hasn't done anything, so what was he supposed to admit? It's true there would be some risks of civil court action too, but in any case he would never have 'confessed' to anything untrue. It is a moral decision.

"He would've evaluated the possibility out of respect for Juve's interests, but not if it meant admitting to something he never actually did."