Between Juventus and Italian Justice, it’s an old story – no love! – which repeats itself and reinvents itself. But since Calciopoli (2006) and the club’s relegation to Serie B, the “Old Lady” seemed to hold her own. And then, in 2023, she was caught, caught red-handed. Or rather in the account book that she “made up”. To stay in the nails financially, she artificially inflated the transfer amounts. Hop, 15 points less and suspensions in shambles for his former bosses (Andrea Agnelli, Fabio Paratici, Pavel Nedved) as sanctions.
Justice does not intend to stop there. Investigators have unearthed documents proving that Juventus hid financial transactions. The 2020 and 2021 fiscal years are thus targeted. Those of the Covid years when all the clubs were hit hard. Officially, 22 players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, dropped four months’ wages in 2020 to help the Turin team. Unofficially, these only gave up one and agreed to be paid from the other three in 2021. These emoluments were obviously not declared.
Juve still owe Ronaldo €19.6m
Except that there is a trace – and therefore proof – of these maneuvers: a letter that Juventus had its players sign. Which makes them accomplices of fraud and which could cost them a 30-day suspension (which would apply in Italy but also abroad). But not everyone is in the same boat and seven of them should escape it: Ronaldo but also Bentancur, Kulusevski, Demiral, Chiesa, Danilo and Alex Sandro. Why them? Quite simply because they did not sign this famous letter. Unlike the fifteen others, including Rabiot, Szczesny, Bonucci, Cuadrado, Arthur, McKennie, Bernardeschi or Dybala.
According to “La Repubblica”, Ronaldo is expected to travel to Turin soon to confirm to investigators that he has not signed this agreement… but also to counterattack. His lawyers plan to become a civil party in the case so that the Portuguese recovers the 19.6 million euros that Juventus still owes him. For this story, Italy’s most successful club risk a fifteen-point withdrawal again, which would relegate them to tied last place with Cremonese with just eight points, nine lengths from the first place of non-relegation.
The prosecutor has requested a period of forty days to examine the elements and a preliminary hearing should take place from March 27 next.
