In June 2020, Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo signed for Juventus, coming from Barcelona, in exchange for 72 million euros (plus ten in variables). Miralem Pjanić went the other way, leaving the Vecchia Signora in an operation in which the Italian club received 60 million euros (plus five in variables) from the team blaugrana. The operation thus represented a benefit of 17 million euros for the coffers of Juventus. and was used in response to the need to balance the team’s accounts.
The transaction served as a trigger for the investigation of something much bigger that had consequences for Juventus. The result? For now, the Turin team lost 15 points in the Italian Championship, which contributed to worsen a season that was no longer brilliant from a sporting point of view. With the sadness, you bianconeri fell to tenth place in Serie Ahindering the task of qualifying for European competitions, an objective that, even if it is achieved on the field, can be annulled by UEFA for breaches related to the fair play financial.
The exchange of Arthur for Pjanić evidenced a scheme in which the Italian club generated fictitious capital gains. Profiting from the sale of footballers is common in the sports business, that is, there is nothing wrong with buying a player for 30 million and selling him for 35. However, Juventus was accused of increase the market value of your players to be able to sell them for higher than expected valuesamortizing, apparently, financial problems.
The case process began because the Football Club Inspection Commission (Covisoc), an internal body of the Italian Federation whose function is to monitor the economic and financial situation of Italian clubs, made a report that highlighted 62 signings that deserved an in-depth analysis, made between 2019 and 2021, since they fit in this type of operations. At that moment, the analysis of the case failed due to the difficulty of defining the marked value of the players. Initially, the investigation tried to be guided by the place specialized in transfers, Transfermarkt, an instrument considered unofficial.
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Source: Observadora
