Juventus Chief Football Officer Francesco Calvo denies Paul Pogba exit rumours and cleverly turns the Turin public prosecutor’s ‘I hate Juventus’ quote into a defence of the club’s wiretapped conversations. ‘Phrases extrapolated from their context can take on a different meaning.’
The game with Salernitana kicks off at the Stadio Arechi at 19.45 GMT.
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Max Allegri warned in his press conference that this was to be treated as a relegation battle, because after the 15-point penalty for artificially inflating transfer fees, the Bianconeri are on 23 points, only two more than Salernitana.
“The club asked me to bring my competence from over 20 years in sport to help and support our directors of sport to make daily decisions and plan the sporting area,” Calvo told DAZN.
“This is a bit of a strange season. We have reached the Coppa Italia semi-final and not everyone can say that, so we are very satisfied. As for Serie A, we have to take it one game at a time and tonight it is Salernitana.”
Paul Pogba continues to be out of action and there are even reports he could terminate his contract by mutual consent.
“We too heard these rumours, but we categorically refute them. Paul was a very important signing for us and a long-term one. The coach said in recent press conferences that there can always be unpredictable events when dealing with injuries and that was the case here.
“We see Pogba training every day with great effort and enthusiasm, so we are waiting and trust he can give his strong contribution.”
The Bianconeri were docked 15 Serie A points and could not formally lodge the appeal until the reasoning had been published, so now that has happened, they can form their defence.
“After every judicial step, the club has expressed itself in unequivocal manner. We consider the sentence unmotivated and illogical. We will continue to defend ourselves, with all respect for the institutions, but we will continue to defend ourselves.”
A video went viral last night and today of the public prosecutor in Turin Ciro Santoriello, who is in charge of the Prisma investigation into the Bianconeri’s finances, declaring openly he “hates Juventus” and is an “anti-Juventus” prosecutor.
In responding to this, Calvo very cleverly turned this on its head and tried to show how some of the snippets of wiretaps used as evidence against Juventus could be seen in the same way.
“I think some phrases extrapolated from their context can take on a different meaning from the one that was originally intended. That is true also for Juventus and all the Juventus employees who were involved in this investigation, just as it is true for the prosecutor in this case.
“I also want to point out Juventus have always shown respect and Juventus expect respect in return during this judicial process.”