According to what was reported by the newspaper “la Repubblica”, Dybala was heard by the Guardia di Finanza of Turin. The interrogation, as a person informed about the facts, concerned the figure of 3 million euros which the investigators want to understand if it was paid and under what title. Does the Argentine risk a disqualification? The situation and what the sporting rules say
Paulo Dybala questioned by the Guardia di Finanza from Turin, who arrived in Rome to hear the Argentine: the newspaper “la Repubblica” reveals it, explaining that the Roma player was listened to for an hour and a half by the investigators. At the center of the questions are some aspects that emerged from the Prisma survey (investigation which, we recall, has closed and which will now see the conduct of the preliminary hearing set for 27 March). In particular, the figure of 3 million euros that the investigators want to understand whether or not it was paid and under what title. As the newspaper explains, everything would arise from a request for compensation from the Argentine, presented by his lawyer in May, after the renewal negotiations closed with no agreement. A proposal from Juve would arrive in September 2022: 3 million euros for pre-contractual liability, included in the Juventus budget as a risk fund. A figure which, explains the newspaper, would be very similar to the 3,783 million that the club and the attacking midfielder had agreed in 2021 to “spread”, as part of the “bis salary maneuver”, and which would have made the prosecutors suspicious, who therefore decided to hear the player for clarification. The intention of the investigators is to understand if, in this case, there have been agreements of a different type and of an irregular nature.
What the sports rules say
These would therefore be private agreements (so-called side-letters) stipulated between clubs and players which would not have been filed with the Federation. Such a situation, if proven, would constitute a violation of thearticle 31 paragraph 3 of the Sports Justice Code: “The club that makes agreements with its members or pays them fees, bonuses or indemnities in violation of the federal provisions in force, is punished with a fine ranging from one to three times the amount unlawfully agreed or paid, to which the penalty of one or more points in the standings”.
What can happen to footballers?
Paragraph 8 of the same article says so which examines the case of illegal agreement or payment that should be demonstrated by the prosecutor to request sanctions also against the players: “Members who enter into an agreement with the club or in any case receive compensation, bonuses or indemnities from it in violation of federal regulations are subject to the sanction of the squalification lasting no less than one month“.
Who could be involved?
The sanction would affect all the players who signed the disputed agreements with Juventus in the two seasons in question: from those still present in black and white (for example the various Szczesny, Bonucci, Danilo, Alex Sandro, Cuadrado, Rabiot, McKennie and Chiesa) up to those now engaged in other teams, such as Dybala, De Ligt, Kulusevski, Bentancur and Demiral. It remains to be seen whether the Federal Prosecutor’s Office will request the documents and whether it intends to extend the investigations to individual players as well