Juventus, salary maneuvers: which clubs, managers and players are at risk? From Maximum Fine to Second Sanction: Scenarios

Timing and assumptions are on the table

These days, federal prosecutor Giuseppe Chen, after four months of investigative work on the basis of 14,000 pages of investigation by the Turin prosecutor’s office in Prisma, is pulling strings on the direction of “salary maneuvers” and the two agreements between Juventus and the players. During the first two seasons of Covid (2019-2020 and 2020-2021), which did not represent a salary cut, but rather a “mere postponement” of four months’ salary payment. The Football Association’s Sporting Justice Act provides that at the end of an investigation, a potential accused receives a similar ‘prior referral’ and can ask to be heard and given a brief. At this point, the district attorney’s office will find itself at a crossroads: moving forward with referrals, filings, or evaluating any plea bargain requests. According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the most likely hypothesis – for an attempt to close the path of sporting justice by the end of the tournament with the two federal divisions envisaged – is that Go to federal court between the end of April And beginning of May.

And what about soccer players? According to the Milanese newspaper, there is a high probability that the players will avoid the ban since then It will be difficult to prove their direct responsibility. “In the exchange of emails between the Juve managers at the time and the players’ agents – Gazzetta dello Sport reports on its reconstruction – It is clear that the Federal Prosecutor’s Office considered that the level of awareness of the behavior of the players was insufficient, and therefore their direct and confirmed responsibility for the regulatory violationOn the other hand, the position of customers is more sensitive, who unlike players may face penalties.

And what if Juventus decided to negotiate?

However, an unexpected possibility could unfold on the horizon: once Chen puts the blame on the cards, Juventus could also decide to negotiate. According to Corriere dello Sport, the hypothesis should not be rejected either because the benefits in terms of penalty deduction would be very attractive since there could be a reduction of up to a third of the penalty prescribed in the case where the action was carried out in the normal way. The problem is that, by taking this path, Juventus would be forced to plead guilty, i.e. completely reverse their defense strategy and ignore allegations that have been made in recent months in which both former executives and new board members have declared their innocence and non-transfer of involvement in the charges.