Police have arrested 16 people - including current and former players and officials - who are allegedly part of a 'criminal organisation' that has been running match-fixing and betting operations in Italy's second and third divisions.

Valeri's club Sassuolo, which had a dismal year in Serie B but managed to stave off relegation to finish in 16th place, are implicated in the controversy - in particular, their match against Siena on  March 27 that ended in a 4-0 loss.

The 26-year-old Socceroo did not play in that game but jumped to the defence of his team-mates and his club, brushing aside accusations of collusion with bookmakers.

"Unfortunately one of my team-mates has been named in the scandal so it's not a great feeling," Valeri said.

"But I know the guy pretty well and I believe that it's all just rumours and talk. The club is very professional and I don't believe that they'd get involved in any of these things."

The allegations come barely five years after 2006's 'calciopoli', which saw Juventus relegated to Serie B and stripped of two championships while Fiorentina, AC Milan, Lazio and Reggina were slapped with points penalties.

Though such corruption seems to be unfortunately embroidered into certain sections of Italian football, Valeri said that he and his family are happy in Italy for the time being.

"You do (get frustrated by these scandals) but in saying that, Italy is a lovely place," he said. "I'm happy in Italy.

"Although there's all these scandals that pop up every now and then, that's the unfortunate side of things. There are a lot of positives there and I think the positives outweigh the negatives."

Valeri did say that he could be tempted to leave Italy and will entertain any contract offers that come to him.

"The opportunity (to move) has never come," he said. "If something comes along of course I'm going to look into it.

"I'm not looking elsewhere but if something comes along, I'll think about it. Everyone tells me 'you should be moving, I can't believe you're still playing in Serie B' but I am happy there.

"Sassuolo is ambitious and their ambition is to go into the Serie A, although we had a horrible season.

"We managed to save ourselves and I think the team grew in that because going through those difficult times, we really stuck together and stuck it out.

"I saw the real strength of the team then, even though we weren't playing the best we possibly could."