Juventus fans have been loudly booing Mattia De Sciglio after accusations that he detailed the club’s now infamous ‘salary manoeuvre’ to investigators, prompting his agent to come to his defence.
The 30-year-old Italian left back allegedly cooperated with the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office and disclosed the details behind the Bianconeri’s secret agreement to pay their players in the early stages of the COVID pandemic, despite publicly announcing that four months’ worth of wages had been waivered.
De Sciglio has missed large parts of this season with a hamstring injury and made his return in the 2-0 loss to Monza last week. He was loudly whistled and booed by supporters, who accused him of being a rat, scenes that were repeated in Juventus’ Coppa Italia win over Lazio on Thursday.
Rushing to his defence, the 30-year-old’s agent Giovanni Branchini tried to support his client on Instagram, detailing how the player has never ‘ratted’.
“De Sciglio has never ratted! But you can’t go into details because that would be a crime. And with Monza he played after only one training session/match four months after the last game played…
“And he was on the pitch 60 and more minutes without having responsibility for the goals conceded. Those whistles are worse than a penalty.
“He is a very fair person and time will prove it, even to the most uninformed.”
Juventus are still at risk of being handed further penalties from the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office and their Prisma investigation.