Cherubini: ‘Paratici drugged market, Juventus paid too much for Kulusevski and Chiesa’

A series of intercepted phone calls made by Juventus sporting director Federico Cherubini reveal his unhappiness and concerns over Fabio Paratici’s work at the Old Lady.

La Gazzetta dello Sport details how the pair worked closely together from 2018 to 2021 and Cherubini kept a small notebook, now nicknamed his ‘black book’, detailing their work together and his thoughts on Paratici. 

Multiple references were made to ‘fake’ or ‘artificial’ capital gains throughout the black book and now investigators have discovered more details from some intercepted phone calls. 

Speaking to an undisclosed person, Cherubini stated: “Fabio drugged the market. That is, even Kulusevski or Chiesa, who are excellent players, but when we bought them we paid too much for them. Kulusevski had done five months in Serie A and we paid €35m plus €9m bonuses for him, that’s €44m.”

The signing of Kulusevski from Atalanta was noted under the header of ‘senseless purchases or out-of-reach investments’ in Cherubini’s black book. 

In other conversations, the Juventus sporting director discussed a sort of vicious circle between the Bianconeri and Atalanta, with other deals like Simone Muratore, Merih Demiral and Cristian Romero all falling under this. 

During his final three years in Turin, Paratici had the power to make deals worth up to €50m, something that Cherubini expressed concern about when speaking to Juventus director Stefano Bertola in another intercepted call. 

“If Fabio woke up in the morning,” Cherubini told Bertola, “and had a headache or a drink he could spend €20 million without telling anyone. It was dangerous.”

After Beppe Marotta left Juventus for Inter in 2018, Paratici had significantly more freedom on the transfer market. 

Cherubini again expressed concern when speaking to Bertola on July 22 2021, saying: “I would have put the hat on Fabio for his protection, because he is world champion, trequartista, number 10… However, he is valued by those who give him balance from above, who every now and then stop one of his deals.” 

“Yes because he goes in loops,” replied Bertola.

The Juventus sporting director’s frustrations with Paratici were clear during this call with Bertola in July 2021.

“At a certain point he no longer had this filter. He wasn’t acting for Paratici inc., but for Juve eh… He went off the rails! And he led you to do deals that in a normal context you can’t do… Spinazzola-Pellegrini you cannot do.”

“I had some evenings that I would come home and I felt like throwing up just thinking about it. I felt that I was selling my soul because I was complicit in some things.”