Juventus may have broken the spirit of the law, but they may not have broken the letter of the law, says Gabriele Marcotti on the ongoing investigation into the club.
The Old Lady are under investigation by Italian authorities into their financial dealings and valuation of players traded on the market.
Juventus’s annual financial report released in recent weeks included a note stating that the Italian market regulator, Consob, had opened an investigation into the club’s revenue from player trading. They and the public prosecutor have both been acting in part on information provided by Covisoc, a commission set up by the Italian Football Federation to monitor teams’ finances.
The creative methods deployed by clubs to ensure capital gains on the balance sheet have have been a concern in recent years, with some question marks of the valuation of certain players.
EXPLAINED: The Juventus accounting scandal 💰@Marcotti explains why Juventus are under investigation and what he thinks the outcome might be.
🗣️ "It's very difficult to prove that the letter of the law was broken, I think the spirit of the law was"
⚽️ with @SkyIreland pic.twitter.com/KD9hMGKrzF— Off The Ball (@offtheball) December 8, 2021
For example, when Juventus signed Arthur from Barcelona last summer, they agreed a fee of €72m, but that was offset by Miralem Pjanic moving in the opposite direction for €60m. Only €12m would change hands but both clubs could record healthy balance sheet for the players they had sold.
Six past and present Juventus directors are reported to be under investigation, including the president, Andrea Agnelli, and Fabio Paratici, now managing director of football at Tottenham. No charges have been issued thus far.
While some reports have been labelling the developments as the biggest scandal in recent memory, Italian football writer Gabriele Marcotti is less moved.
Speaking on The Football Show, Marcotti said that the case is not as clear-cut as being reported.
"What we're talking about is player trading. Every club does it. It's based on a very clear concept that when I sell a player for €20 million, I can book that as profit", Marcotti said.
"Let's pretend we're both Serie B clubs. Let's say I sell you a player for €10 million and in return, you sell me a player for €10 million. We don't actually give each other money. Let's pretend these players are from the youth team."
"The residual value on our books would be zero. But we can both book a €10 million profit on the sale of that player and then let's say we gave the player a five-year contract, so it's only costing us €2 million a year - you've effectively generated €8 million out of thin air for this year."
"It's very difficult to prove that the letter of the law was broken, I think it's fairly obvious that the spirit of the law was broken."
Football on Off The Ball, brought to you by Sky.
All the football you love in one place across Sky Sports, BT Sport & Premier Sports.
