Cristiano Ronaldo suspended for fraudulent transfer?

Captured by old stories? A year and a half after leaving Juventus in Turin, Cristiano Ronaldo, now in Saudi Arabia at the age of 37, may worry about his Italian past. While the transalpine club lost 15 points due to a false capital gain in the transfer market, several English and Spanish media outlets are reporting that the transfers of 22 players are now on the radar of Italian justice. These players include new Al-Nasr striker Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as Paulo Dybala and Giorgio Chiellini. All of them are suspected of complicity in another financial fraud, which is allegedly related to the deferment of salaries.

He faces a one-month ban.

During the Covid-19 period, in the spring of 2020, the management of Turin did indeed agree to defer the payment of salaries to their players. At that time, the club, then managed by Agnelli, decided to postpone part of the amounts planned for the players. Nothing was clearly written in that sense, rather it was assumed that members of the labor force would forego a few months’ pay. But the players would finally receive the money without even declaring it.

Justice found elements including a WhatsApp conversation from the locker room where defender Giorgio Chiellini asked his teammates not to talk about the subject because the club is listed on the stock exchange. Alleged accounting fraud would artificially cap losses on balance sheets presented to investors between 2018 and 2021.

The guilt of Cristiano Ronaldo and other football players has not been proven at the moment. But if it turns out that the Portuguese and his teammates knew about this scheme, they could be subject to a 30-day suspension. This sanction could apply to players currently playing abroad, including Cristiano Ronaldo, who is preparing to play his second official match this Thursday in the Saudi Super Cup.