Juventus are being investigated by the Guardia di Finanza (Italy’s financial police) over reportedly over inflating the value of some of their players when conducting transfers.
The timeframe is thought to have been over the last three years, from the 2019 to 2021 summer transfer windows. It’s believed that Juve brought in some €282m ($319m) from exaggerating the prices of transfers over the period.
Some of these deals are well known, with the most notable being Miralem Pjanic’s move from Juventus to Barcelona in June 2020. The €60m ($67.9m) deal raised eyebrows at the time, as it was ostensibly a straight swap – give or take a million or 12 – with Barca’s Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo. Many saw the two deals for what they were: accounting tricks in order to balance the books before the halfway point of the financial year. Pjanic, who was 30 at the time of the deal, was in no way a €60m player, considering his form had dipped substantially in his last two years at Juventus.
Other suspect deals include Emil Audero, who joined Sampdoria for €20m ($22m) despite having only ever played one game for the club, on the final day of the 2016-17 season.
Juventus aren’t the only team under investigation however, with Napoli also under examination for the Victor Osimhen transfer from Lille in the summer of 2020.
Yet the news that Juve are under the financial microscope shouldn’t come as news to anyone paying attention to the state of their finances over the last several years. It’s telling that many of these deals happened in the aftermath of the Cristiano Ronaldo signing. Ronaldo’s four-year contract with the club, with a salary of €31m ($36m)-per-season was always a massive burden for the club to carry, even before the pandemic obliterated the club’s revenue.
Signing Ronaldo, and committing to his mammoth wages, hoovered up so much of the club’s revenue that they couldn’t afford to sign other players and rejuvenate areas of the squad. Even with the improved commercial deals that were signed with Jeep and Adidas as a consequence of the Ronaldo signing, in addition to the almost maxing out of the club’s match day revenue, which plateaued at around the €65m ($73m) mark, Juve simply didn’t generate enough money to keep up with other European heavyweights.
Moreover, the decrease in Serie A’s domestic and foreign TV rights deals only exacerbated the problem. All the usual resources had been depleted, and so a reliance on plusvalenza (capital gains) became absolutely necessary.
It would be harsh to pinpoint solely the Ronaldo deal as the cause of Juve’s current woes. Players like Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot were presented with monstrous contracts in the summer before Covid reshaped the world in order to entice them to Turin. These two deals, perhaps above all others, highlights the sheer obscenity of Fabio Paratici’s three-year stint as sporting director. One could make the valid argument that Ronaldo at least guaranteed goals and brought increased international exposure to the club. Ramsey and Rabiot have brought nothing of the sort, with the former hardly kicking a ball for Juventus in the 2021 calendar year.
If found guilty, Juve could be heavily fined or given a points deduction. President Andrea Agnelli, vice-president Pavel Nedved and Paratici are all also under investigation, but the problem with such cases is trying to definitively prove how much is the true value of a player. One club may value a player at €25m ($28m), whilst another could value him at €15m ($16.9m).
Who is to deliberate on who is ultimately right or wrong? It’s a complex issue, but the fact that Juve are being investigated should come as a surprise to no one.
"come" - Google News
November 27, 2021 at 10:50PM
https://ift.tt/2Zsqh2H
Juventus Being Under Investigation By Italy’s Financial Police Should Come As A Surprise To No One - Forbes
"come" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2S8UtrZ
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Juventus Being Under Investigation By Italy’s Financial Police Should Come As A Surprise To No One - Forbes"
Post a Comment