Juve scandal spreads: Ronaldo is considering a lawsuit

Are Matthijs de Ligt now also facing drastic consequences in the Juventus cheating scandal?

Juventus is accused of glossing over the market values ​​of their own players and of falsifying salary balances during the corona pandemic.

Italy’s record champions were therefore deducted 15 points in Serie A last week by the Italian association court. (DATA: Serie A results and fixture list)

But now Juve players who were affected at the time could also be prosecuted. There are locks of at least 30 days in the room.

The tricky thing: A ban could still be imposed even if the players are no longer under contract with Juve – as in the case of de Ligt, who switched from Turin to FC Bayern last summer.

Should it really come to that, the Dutch defender would miss the round of 16 games in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain, among other things, but UEFA and FIFA would first have to recognize the verdict of the Italian association.

“Of course I hope not,” said Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann at the press conference before the game against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday about an imminent suspension of de Ligt: “It’s more a matter for the legal department.”

Press spokesman Dieter Nickles said: “Bayern is watching.”

Cristiano Ronaldo and Weston McKennie are also threatened with suspension. The journalist Paolo Ziliani from the Italian newspaper had the possibility of an impending ban for various players Daily fact picked up.

Regarding de Ligt, Ziliani had reported that the 23-year-old is said to have presented the judges with internal chats from a WhatsApp group. It is also about statements by Giorgio Chiellini, in which the then Juve captain explains to the teammates the cheating of the club. There are supposed screenshots of these chats that Ziliani published on his Twitter account.

For about a year, the Italian public prosecutor’s office has been investigating high-ranking officials of the traditional Piedmont club, including ex-president Andrea Agnelli, ex-vice-president Pavel Nedved and former sports director Fabio Paratici.

In addition to deducting 15 points, the Italian FA imposed lengthy bans on 11 members of the club’s former management, including ex-boss Agnelli (24 months) and his deputy Nedved (8). Both have since resigned.

Juventus still denies the allegations. The new Juve managing director Maurizio Scanavino described the verdict as “unfair” and emphasized: “We will defend ourselves in court.” (NEWS: Juve bosses cause tremors)

According to various media reports, however, the people of Turin are threatened with further adversity: there is talk of high fines, in the worst case there is a risk of relegation.

The judges saw it as proven that Juve had embellished the club’s balance sheets for years with fictitious market values ​​of its players. In the 2018, 2019 and 2020 financial years alone, the accounts are said to have been falsified by more than 100 million euros.

According to this, the people of Turin are said to have drawn up invoices for non-existent transactions and inflated transfers. The main focus should be on the player changes from Miralem Pjanic and Arthur.

Pjanic was transferred to FC Barcelona in 2020 for 60 million euros, in return Barca gave Brazilian Arthur to Juve for 72 million euros. This also brought the European Football Union (UEFA) onto the scene, which is also currently examining the Italians’ finances.

But that’s not all: Loud AS and Gazzetta dello Sport the investigators also found documents that are said to incriminate Cristiano Ronaldo and other Juve stars. De Ligt is said to be one of them – the current Roman Paulo Dybala, Wojciech Szczesny, Leonardo Bonucci, Juan Cuadrado, Adrien Rabiot and ex-Schalke player Weston McKennie are also mentioned.

Background: During the corona pandemic, the old lady is said to have reached an agreement with some players to temporarily reduce monthly salaries. However, documents are intended to show that Juventus continued to pay some of its players – on the black – and thus did not properly book millions of euros more.

Apparently, Cristiano Ronaldo did not sign the salary cuts at the time! According to the latest media reports, his ex-club still owes the Portuguese superstar almost 20 million euros. (NEWS: How deep is Ronaldo in the Juve swamp?)

Because in a “secret document” the Italian record champion CR7 is said to have promised to pay the salaries that he is said to have waived, even if he should leave the club – which finally happened in 2021.

Since the Bianconeri have not paid to date, Ronaldo is considering with his lawyers, according to the Italian newspaper The Republic now a civil suit against his former employer. A first hearing is scheduled for March 27th.

According to the prosecutors, only the signatures of the Juve bosses were found on the documents, but not those of Ronaldo, who could thus avoid a ban.

Soon there will be another court case in the Juve scandal. And should the people of Turin be found guilty again, loudly Sports Courier another 15 points will be deducted. In addition, there is a risk of a fine three times the amount of the fake millions of profits.

Explosive: The first point deduction already had an extremely negative effect on the Juve share on the Milan Stock Exchange. The paper fell by eleven percent and had to be temporarily suspended from trading.

Due to the 15-point deduction, the Bianchoneri also had to bury all hopes of winning the championship and even slipped out of the Champions League ranks. Tenth in the table, they are 27 points behind leaders SSC Napoli and fourteen in fourth. (DATA: The Series A Table)

Not qualifying for the premier class would set back and weaken the financially troubled Juve even further. A second point deduction would even put Turin in danger of relegation.

It would be a dé jà vu for the old lady – in 2006 Juve were sentenced to relegation due to a manipulation scandal.