Juventus darkest period in their history was the Calciopoli, a match-fixing scandal, and it appears as though the Italian side has found themselves in another scandal.
Now how is this connected to Tottenham Hotspur? Managing Director of Football Fabio Paratici, Andrea Agnelli, and Pavel Nedved are under investigation following a raid at Juventus’ club offices amid a false accounting inquiry.
The Daily Mail reports that the £47-million deal for Cristian Romero in August is one of 42 transfers police are investigating amid allegations of false accounting.
This deal’s connection with Juventus is that the parties involved completed it the same day the Argentine defender left The Old Lady for Atalanta for just £13.5-million.
Juventus saw its offices in Milan and Turn raided by police, allowing the authorities to seize player contracts, invoices, and financial statements as evidence.
Accusations of the Serie A side falsely recording the transfers’ values between 2019 and 2021 allowed them to meet Financial Fair Play regulations.
The deal involving Romero date backs to when Juventus paid Genoa £22-million for Romero in July 2019 but promptly sent him back on loan for the season. The Argentine then spent the following year on loan to Atalanta for a £3.4-million loan fee.
However, the deal raised some eyebrows during the summer when Atalanta announced they signed Romero permanently for £13.5-million before letting him leave on loan to Tottenham, who also paid the option to buy him for £47-million. With Atalanta pocketing £33.5-million in a single season, the sums did draw attention.
Paratici has held talks with Tottenham over the matter as the report states that the Premier League side hasn’t done anything wrong. Furthermore, it doesn’t seem as though this report will prevent the club chief from continuing his job and purchasing players in Italy.