Juventus’ poor financial situation cannot be entirely blamed on the Cristiano Ronaldo transfer, with other factors playing a more important role.
The Bianconeri, whose finances are currently being investigated by the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office, are in a tough spot, with over half a billion euros worth of investment not paying off.
La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the issues began with the Gonzalo Higuain deal. In the 2016/17 season, the value of the squad on the balance sheet rose from €186m in 2015/16 to €302 m. The Turin club paid €91m for the Argentinian striker and gave him a salary of €7.5m net per season, the start of the club’s financial troubles.
The Ronaldo deal cost €277m in total, accounting for his transfer fee, salary and other costs. The transfer did pay off to some extent, with the Portuguese star scoring 101 goals across three seasons, and so this is not the true source of the club’s issues.
Examining the Higuain deal, the total cost was €122m in total – €91m in transfer fees, €45m in salary and severance fees, €4m in additional costs, minus the €18m earnt from the loan to Milan and Chelsea. Whilst his goals were important for the 2017 and 2018 league titles, this was not enough to justify the high costs.
The Douglas Costa transfer was also expensive, costing €87m in total between the €51m transfer fee and his salary. Arthur was also a poor investment, with his total cost being €85m, although this does include the exaggerated player value of €72m.
The investments made in young talents Federico Bernardeschi and Dejan Kulusevski have also not paid off. The two players cost €40m and €35m respectively, with their total costs adding up to €73m and €49m when accounting for salaries and commissions.
Another set of issues stem from the free signings made. Aaron Ramsey’s total expenses have added up to €44m in total, accounting for the €9m in commissions and his salary. Adrien Rabiot’s total cost is currently €29 million, similar to Marko Pjaca, who has cost the club €32m.
Cristian Romero’s deal has also cost Juventus dearly; he was purchased for €28m, minus €3m in add-ons, and he was promptly sold to Atalanta for €15m, who then sold him to Tottenham for €50m plus add-ons.
Adding up the total costs of these nine players (not including Ronaldo) sees the total bill sit at over €500m, a large amount for investments that have not particularly paid off, leaving the club in their current precarious financial position.
#Juventus
L’assalto all’élite del calcio mondiale è fallito anche per una serie di errori negli investimenti sulla rosa. In questa analisi individuo le operazioni che hanno reso al di sotto delle aspettative: 500 milioni sciupati. E Ronaldo non c’entra.https://t.co/gfh9MjTr8e— Marco Iaria (@MarcoIaria1) December 20, 2021
Waiting for my dude I Miss Marco Branca to shed some lights about this news. Probably he would throw some tantrums by citing Inter‘s failures for the past decades, yet he forgot that even the stupid Branca was once part of the treble winning team under Mourinho.
Juve won 9 league titles in a row so the spend can’t be a total waste. Higuain and Ronaldo did well. Rabio Ramsey Kulesevski Costa Bentancur and Arthur have all been disappointing. Kean hasn’t been great either but I hope he turns it around as he showed talent at psg.
That man has to go. He’s lost the plot!
What kind a of a nonsense article is this? So when ever you pay a transfer sum for a player it is a waste?
I’m pretty sure nobody thought they were ever going to sell Higuain and Ronaldo for a profit or anything…
@Kev so strange for an Inter fan to bring up the treble season…
Hindsight is 20:20. The loss of Marotta allowed more of the cowboy elements to take hold. The signings since 2016 have not worked out as hope, for player reasons and the complete lack of a re-sell market due to covid. However, in Agnelli’s defence, the splurge on ronaldo was a recognition of the reality that the only lever juve had left to pull to try and compete at the top table was commercial. They had maxed out the stadium and serie a tv rights were what they were. You have a hugely popular team around the world but you earn less than Burnley from domestic TV and there is nothing you can do about it really. COVID derailed that project and we are left with what we have now. Ronaldo was at least strategically something you could get your head around. However, De Ligt and the Ramsey/Rabiot deals were poor. De Ligt I can only presume was signed based on the idea he could be sold for tidy profit a few years later. He was never going to be the LT replacements. What happened with Demiral and Romero was baffling. Now Juve will struggle to break even on a cash basis for De Ligt and Kulusevski has been a big bust. Before 2016, we were lucky if Juve spent 20m in a summer on a player and had to agree to deals like Morata with buybacks. MIght have to return to base of Italian and smart signings like Vidal before there is any hope of returning to the peak years of 2016-2019, at least in terms of money available and prestige to players. You can see why Agnelli was and is so desperate for the super league. Best hope otherwise is much better leadership of lega calcio, Milan and Inter not selling players and Roma/Mourinho doing well etc to get the value of the league back up. What Serie A earns internationally is a joke vs La Liga despite being a much better league to watch.
Continuing my earlier point, a simple google trends global search shows how the relative difference in popularity of Serie A vs La Liga is not reflected by the enormous difference in rights obtained. Why are they so bad at this. SImple things like the audiovisuals, camera angles, microphones, graphics, they have had years to improve upon. These are low hanging fruit that matter.
Cristian Romero’s deal has also cost Juventus dearly; he was purchased for €28m, minus €3m in add-ons, and he was promptly sold to Atalanta for €15m, who then sold him to Tottenham for €50m plus add-ons.
On top of that all this happened in 2 years, from summer 2019 to summer 2021. The Juve valuation of 26 million in 2019, and the valuation of the same management a year later at 15 million. He then goes on to shine for Atalanta, who use the clause of 15 million fee for him, and the same day sell him on to Tottenham for 50 million.
In any other profession mismanagement of your own assets in the scale of 35 million euros, or 320%, would mean youre fired the same day.
Grande Paratici and Nedved.
I think we have to agree with this. We overpaid for Higuain. Ronaldo deal was supposed to bring some commercial benefits, but due to the Pandemic it could not fetch the desired results. Rest of the deals mentioned above have been a failure. We continue to sign players and then fail to integrate in the main team. First marotta, then paratici. I hope Cherubini does not repeat this. Never understood Nedveds role as vice President.Not sure if he is doing his job well.
Find a way to screen candidates before bringing them into Juve. This a 100+yr club with many many many players and coaches that won WC’s Euros. It’s a prestigious club and warrants respect. Don’t waste time with players who put sauces on pizzas, dye their hair are you kidding me!
I mean I like Locatelli but every time the camera takes a pic he lks like a deer in the headlights like he stole a cookie behind the mothers back, Chiesa and we all love this kid but he misses the net and then is blowing balloons with his cheeks! Berna but can you fit any more tattoos on that body? It’s the bad news bears!
Guys we need serious players for this sort of team roster.
Does it surprise anyone that this team is so poorly managed. This win at any cost mentality does little to promote Juve or Serie A. The lack of talent evaluation is striking, constantly reaching for the latest, hottest player and bringing them to Turin has left this team bereft ot true leadership and money. When Cudrado or Chiellini are your best players on a given day, you have to wonder who is making the player decisions. Allegri is trying to reinstate the team concept, playing as a team with the goal of winning games thru solid playmaking defensive football. Juve need to understand that the glory of winning football is shared thru sacrifice and team play. Those are the kind of players they need to lead this team and bring them back to prominence.
@JUVE PAID 40 MILLION FOR BERNArdeschi How much did inter lose on Gabi”one”goal, Kondogbia, Naingolan, joao mario, really, the list goes on?
Honestly, all of the top Italian clubs are guilty of making terrible signings in the last 5-10 years. I issue is that they get carried away trying to compete with foreign clubs that have more money. Let them make the inflated purchases. Focus on local talent. Loads of talent is developed by these clubs, who then ignore them and they go on to play well elsewhere, Milan is a great example of this. Meanwhile they do the opposite and buy talent developed elsewhere for inflated prices, as Juve did with Bernardeschi for example. Berna is not a bad player, but he was worth no more than 25m. Maybe 30m. Clubs should follow the Atalanta model. Bring up youth and pepper them with smart purchases from smaller leagues. Atalanta has been in the top 4 for like 3-4 seasons now, and went to the CL semis only barely losing to mighty PSG a couple of seasons ago. This season they’re once again in the title hunt. They’ve done it with a fraction of the budget of the big 6. So imagine if you took that budget and combined it with the Atalanta model? You’d be able to start with an Alfa Romeo and make it into a Ferrari, instead of starting with a FIAT, making it into an Alfa and then having to sell. They just can’t afford to buy the Ferrari straight away. Not a great analogy, but maybe it makes the point.
Juve took a massive gamble on Ronaldo with the hopes he will help grow the club world wide. Who knows if could of happened without Covid? But it happened, money needed to flow and they built on a house of cards. Serie A is at a disadvantage not just with their TV rights and terrible stadiums, also language is a big factor. English and Spanish are global languages and which helped grow EPL & La Liga in North and South America
@Zambrotta
I dont think you understand. Juve never gave him a chance to succeed or flop.
You can overvalue players, happens all the time with transfers, but to then undervalue the player a year later by around 35 million is a special incompetence, Its like betting a football match, then cash out at 0-0 after 5 minutes at 60%, only for you to see the team you bet on score a hatrrick in minutes 6,7 and 8th.
Kev, like all inter fans all you do is bang on about the treble. One year of success (playing awful catenaccio football) does not make you a great football club. Greatness is marked by sustained success throughout the decades and the size of your trophy cabinet and Juve will always have it over Inter in that regard. One thing’s for sure, Inter will NEVER win 9 scudetti in a row and will NEVER surpass Juve’s trophy tally.
Atalanta, Roma, Napoli, and Lazio are examples of clubs that are run with a business sense. I know the fans want to trash talk the Patrons if they don’t spend millions on signings. Look what the city of Rome did to Pallotta when he spent years and millions trying to invest in the city and the teams future. I love Calcio. And I love Italy. But they will never become a top tier league again. Too much red tape. Too much corruption. Let the Ultras invest if they want to have a say. They want control of ticket sales. They want to have a say in transfers. They want to threaten players. Where are they when players and their homes are being robbed? Serie A will always be second class and it is a shame.
Juve can have as many serie A trophy as they want, people outside italy already know how Juve play with officials and etc.. And that’s justified why you can win UCL since a long time where Milan and Inter have 10 between them..