Former Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini says players were ‘surprised’ at talk of potential bans for the so-called salary manoeuvre when they made ‘a positive gesture’ for the club, while the points penalties make this an irregular season.
The Bianconeri have been through the wringer this season and it’s not over yet, as they were docked 15 Serie A points, those were restored on appeal pending a new verdict from the Federal Court of Appeal that is expected to penalise the club by nine points on May 22.
Chiellini has watched on from afar, having left for a new experience in Major League Soccer with Los Angeles FC.
“These were difficult months, a rollercoaster of emotions,” Chiellini told Sky Sport Italia.
“In January, I never would’ve expected the penalisation, I then didn’t expect it to be revoked and for us to be in May still waiting for another verdict.
“I experienced all this the way millions of Juventus fans did, with a sense of pride, belonging and innocence. There is still so much to be judged and evaluated, so honestly I think anything could still happen.”
The points penalty was for artificially inflating transfer fees to boost capital gains, something that all clubs including Juve were cleared of last year, but only the Bianconeri saw their position changed by new evidence from the Prisma police investigation.
“It is honestly difficult to find the logic in this, not just for Juventus, but also the other clubs whose positions are all inevitably affected by this. Jose Mourinho was right a few months ago when he had questions over where Juventus would end up,” added Chiellini.
“It would’ve been better to sort it out either before the season or after, otherwise it becomes difficult for clubs to know what their objectives are. There isn’t much regular about this campaign.”
As things stand, Juventus have second place seemingly locked down, but a nine-point penalty could send them plummeting down to ninth.
“I think the squad and Allegri have been remarkable to keep their focus on the pitch. In my view, Allegri does better in situations of difficulty than in a calm campaign, he gets the best out of the men more than just the players.”
That isn’t all, as Juventus are also reported to be discussing a plea bargain with the Federation over the other matter of the ‘salary manoeuvre’ – when in 2020 the squad agreed to forego four months of their wages.
WhatsApp messages show the players knew full well at the time that they were only giving up one month, the rest would be restored via various sponsorship and bonus deals.
“I was surprised by how much we were dragged into it, especially with some talking about potential bans for us players. There is an investigation on-going, I have my own ideas on that, but this isn’t the place to talk about it,” concluded Chiellini.
“In future, it will be a pleasure for me to do so, because for the players it was just a nice, positive gesture towards the club, who are our employers, and enabled others working for the club to keep their salaries during a time of crisis.
“We were all perfectly relaxed in that and were surprised to be dragged into it with talk of bans.”