The Federal Prosecutor has opened an investigation into 62 suspicious transfers in Serie A, studying the exchange deals and capital gains due to possibly inflated valuations.
La Repubblica and Il Tempo claim a new possible transfer scandal has arrived on the table of Federal Prosecutor Giuseppe Chiné.
The reports claim COVISOC, the Supervisory Commission for Serie A clubs sent a detailed report to the Prosecutor and to the FIGC President Gabriele Gravina, asking them to look into the matter.
The Supervisor claims certain businesses might have had significant impact on the accounts of various clubs in the top flight.
Napoli are cited for the Victor Osimhen affair, as four players moved to LOSC Lille for a total value of €20m and two of them are now in Serie D, one in Serie C and the fourth has remained in France without playing.
Juventus are worst hit, having 42 transfers on the list, with 21 players exchanged for a total of €90m, but the money that actually changed hands was just over €3m.
The case is now at the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office, who are yet to open any proceedings. But Federal Prosecutor Chiné is studying the documents and it’s not excluded that a case could be opened in the future.
Last year, a similar scandal hit Serie B in Italy, and ultimately resulted in docked points for Cesena and Chievo Verona – two clubs that later went bankrupt.
Italian Police raid Juventus’ club offices amid probe into transfer dealings
Juventus’ club offices were raided by Italian police on Friday amid an investigation regarding the Old Lady’s transfer dealings.
Italian authorities took documents relating to transfers, invoices and financial statements from Juventus’ offices in Turin and Milan as they probe the club’s profits from transfers and agents fees between 2019 and 2021.
Six officials from the Italian club are under investigation, as well as Juventus itself. Those officials include club president Andrea Agnelli and vice-president Pavel Nedved.
Fabio Paratici, who was Juve’s sporting director before taking up a similar role with Tottenham last summer, is also under investigation.
A probe by Italy’s football watchdog COVISOC and finance regulator Consob has already been opened. Reports suggest that police are investigating profits grossing €50million (£42m) acquired in a 24-month spell.
A statement released by the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office read: ‘Since this afternoon, on the orders of this Public Prosecutor’s Office, soldiers of the Guardia di Finanza have been carrying out local searches at the Turin and Milan offices of Juventus Football Club Spa.
Pavel Nedved (R), Andrea Agnelli (C) and Fabio Paratici (L) are under investigation
Arthur moved to Juventus from Barcelona in a £72.5m deal
Joao Cancelo joined Manchester City from Juventus for £27.4m in 2019
The financiers of the Turin Economic-Financial Police Unit, delegated to the investigations, were instructed to find documentation and other useful elements relating to the company financial statements approved in the years from 2019 to 2021, with reference to both the purchase and sale of rights to the sports performance of the players, and the regular formation of financial statements.
‘At present, the activities are aimed at ascertaining the crime of false communications from listed companies and issuing invoices for non-existent transactions, towards the top management and the managers of the business, financial and sports management areas.
‘Under consideration there are various transfer operations of professional players and the services rendered by some agents involved in the relative intermediaries.’
Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport claims that 42 transfers – including transfers involving Joao Cancelo, Arthur, Danilo and Miralem Pjanic, – are being scrutinised by authorities.
