What is the secret deal between Ronaldo and Juventus?

An important element of the Prisma investigation into Juventus is the secret agreement made with Cristiano Ronaldo, which guarantee the Portugese star almost €20m.

Corriere della Sera details how the document confirming the details of the agreement between player and club was found in lawyer Federico Restano’s office in Turin on March 23, 2022. It has played a seemingly important role in the investigation of the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office, who are examining the club’s financial behaviour over the last few years.

The agreement between Juventus and Ronaldo is related to the €19.6m owed by the club to the player before he left for England in the summer of 2021. According to Cesare Gabasio, head of the Juventus legal department, the document should not exist as the debt was never registered in the club’s balance sheets. Ronaldo did not put pen to paper on the document.

The €19.6m debt stems from the secret agreements made between the Bianconeri and their squad during the early stages of the COVID pandemic, when it was publicly announced that the players would be waiving four months’ worth of wages. In reality, only one month was waivered.

The document, signed by Fabio Paratici, has been published by Corriere della Sera, found below:

“Accordo Premio Integrativo – Scrittura integrative: We follow up on the agreements made and attach to the present the document relating to the supplementary bonus recognised in your favour (Accordo Premio Integrativo) and the further supplementary writing of the Accordo Premio Integrativo (Scrittura integrativa).

‘In confirming the commitments made in the aforementioned documents, we also undertake to deliver to you by 31.07.2021 the Integrative Bonus Agreement rewritten on the federal forms ‘Other Writings’, which are not available to date, and the Supplementary Writing duly signed.”

In another annex it’s also specified that “in the event that, following your definitive transfer, the condition established for the vesting of the identified bonuses (…) cannot occur, you will be entitled to receive a redundancy incentive.”