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Suarez, Superlega and budgets, Agnelli doesn’t get it right – Il Tempo

Fabrizio Cicciarelli

More black than white at Juventus. The sporting crisis, certified by the defeat against Sassuolo, is coupled with the difficult moment of the club, amplified by the pandemic, with a budget in the red of 210 million, second in Italian football only to -246 just recorded by Inter. This is the worst result in the history of the Juventus club, in the fourth consecutive year with a loss. It will be covered by a 400 million capital increase, the second in two years, a delicate period for the Andrea Agnelli era.

From the post Calciopoli relaunch started with the intuition of Conte’s engagement and crowned by 9 scudetti, the management of the Juventus president found itself grappling with a sudden turnaround in the results, reverberated in the accounts, up to the flop of the Super League, passing for the waste of the Suarez case and the recent investigation by the FIGC on capital gains in the sales of players. “Each operation is communicated – the manager clarifies – being listed on the Stock Exchange, there is maximum collaboration and maximum serenity”.

Agnelli illustrated the situation of the club in the shareholders’ meeting, the only one in attendance among the companies listed on the stock exchange, gathered for the occasion between the lawn and the grandstand of the Allianz Stadium. «In the 2014-18 cycle – the president specified – we had a turnover consistently above 400 million. With the latest capital increase we wanted to start an expansion plan to consolidate the results, then in February 2020 the world stopped with the arrival of Covid ». The virus has changed strategies, but Agnelli is still relaunching on that path. “The 2019 plan was credible yesterday and it is today – he adds – and has what it takes to restart thanks to the capital increase we are submitting”.
No second thoughts on the Super League: to those who criticize the closed formula of the competition he replied that “the pure sporting merit was abandoned in 1991, when it was decided that the fourth classified of a country has more rights than a champion team of another”, hoping for a constructive dialogue pending a ruling on the matter by the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Yet the “schism” from Uefa had ended in a stalemate, with Juve remaining – together with Real Madrid and Barcelona – under the wind of criticism from fans and professionals in a year already made slippery by the reflections of the Suarez case , in which the company is not involved, as well as by sports results in contrast to previous years.

A trend regarding which, at the meeting, the vice president Pavel Nedved wished to reply to the criticisms of the shareholders. «You cannot play such a prestigious role – the manager replied – being only a friend of the president. There are fair criticisms from you, my behavior has not always been at its best but it is part of my character. Hearing your words hurts me ».

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