Berardi enhances 'bad boy' rep with three-game ban

Berardi, one of the most promising strikers in Italy, is expected to join Juventus next season although the Serie A champions are said to be monitoring the 21-year-old closely after his latest outburst.

Berardi will miss Sassuolo's next three league outings after Serie A officials sanctioned him for "kicking the opposing team's player in the stomach while lying on the ground".

Their statement added: "He has been sanctioned with a three-game ban."

Berardi reacted angrily to a foul by Ansaldi by kicking the Genoa player and was shown a straight red card in the 41st minute.

It was the 30th card, yellow and red combined, shown to the Sassuolo striker in the past three Serie A seasons -- four more than former 'bad boy' Mario Balotelli had collected at the same age of 21 and four months.

Sassuolo coach Eusebio Di Francesco admitted he would have to "have a word with Berardi... if someone is getting sent off or suspended regularly, it's a problem".

Once linked to a number of clubs in England's Premier League, Berardi's ill discipline could now prompt Juventus to think twice ahead of his expected move to the club next season.

Formerly co-owned by the Turin giants, Berardi is now owned by Sassuolo although a clause in his contract allows Juventus to sign him in 2016.

Berardi's goalscoring talents are known throughout Italy, after he hit four goals in a 4-3 win over AC Milan in January 2014 that cost coach Massimiliano Allegri his job. Allegri is now coach of Juventus.

Berardi became the second youngest player in the history of Serie A to score four goals in a single league game. The youngest was the 18-year-old Silvio Piola, the league's all-time leading scorer, in 1931.

In the same season Berardi hit a first-half hat-trick in a 4-3 win away to Fiorentina, one of several positive results that helped the club avoid relegation.

Sassuolo sit fifth in Serie A this term just eight points behind leaders Inter Milan.