OPINION: The Super League shouldn't be linked to sports justice during Juve investigation

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OPINION: The Super League shouldn't be linked to sports justice during Juve investigation
Juventus Stadium
Juventus Stadium
Profimedia
Whether it's right for UEFA to investigate the possible consequences for Juventus, these investigations should not take into account the will or abjuration of the proposed 'European Super League'. That wouldn't be sports justice, but politics.

After Andrea Agnelli's resignation and the resetting of the Bianconeri top management, UEFA were waiting for a signal of rapprochement from Juventus on the Super League issue.

That signal never arrived. This is because Agnelli, who was the first supporter of the proposed European competition, was not a voice out of the chorus within the Juventus society, but only the spokesman for a solution that also interested the higher-ups.

That said, if a signal of détente could help relations with UEFA, it would not be right, as is being done, to consider it fundamental for Juventus' future in European competitions.

Politics and sports justice are (and must remain) different

Sports justice is one thing, politics are another. And while the diplomatic route may be able to ease positions, justice must be based on facts and not intentions.

And the facts must be assessed free of any prejudice of any kind because, if in order not to be disqualified, one has to come to terms that we are no longer in the realm of justice but of blackmail.

UEFA have in their hands the pages of the Prisma investigation of the Turin prosecutor's office and are making their assessments; that is, trying to understand whether fictitious capital gains and salary manoeuvres have altered the club's accounts (with regard to Financial Fair Play).

They should stick to this, and not whether or not Juventus want to attempt to go ahead with the Super League.

John Elkann
Profimedia

There is certainly an underlying inconsistency that annoys chiefs at UEFA to no small degree, namely how a club can pursue the desire to create an external European league, but at the same time want to play in the current one (complete with financial bonus).

This sacrosanct annoyance, however, always belongs to the 'political' sphere and should not manipulate that of sporting justice.

Juventus, after all, are not the only club that has not abjured the idea of the Super League, but they're in good company: Real Madrid, rather untouchable given the power of Florentino Perez, and Barcelona, who find themselves embroiled in another dangerous investigation (payments the Blaugrana club allegedly made to the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees, José Enriquez Negreira, from 2016 to 2018).

Again, UEFA are closely following developments in this case to assess possible moves. This is why Laporta recently had talks with Aleksander Čeferin, the top dog at UEFA.

Aleksander Čeferin
Profimedia

Two investigations, almost at the same time, that a certain dietrology has not failed to notice, considering them a 'revenge of Čeferin' for the Super League issue.

Without working on fantasy, but staying within the known, there is no doubt that Agnelli's Juventus as the main promoter of the new competition represented something 'special' for Čeferin.

Beyond the political aspect and that inherent in sports justice that UEFA will have to assess; the governing body's number one saw himself betrayed in a personal relationship with former friend, Andrea Agnelli.

He would have made it, in short, a personal matter. That is why now, with Agnelli out of the picture, he cannot understand how Juventus are not extending a hand to Nyon by giving up the idea of the Super League.

No signals are coming from Turin: maybe the club will or maybe not, maybe they are simply waiting for the outcome of the new trial scheduled for June 15th to understand the possibilities of manoeuvring.

There is time to talk about the Super League

Massimiliano Allegri
AFP

After all, Juventus have enough to think about, to put it mildly. While trying to understand the 'European future' between the current penalisation and the potential one of the new trial, the club must also rebuild from the rubble.

That is why the leaks from Turin and the almost certain arrival of sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli, on his way out of Naples, record a certain annoyance of the top management after the defeat in Empoli, which would have given a jolt to the position of Massimiliano Allegri - confirmed by chief football officer Francesco Calvo before the match with 'unconditional confidence'.

Even the club's majority shareholder, John Elkann, who was on the sidelines of a speech at Bocconi, limited himself to talking about the near future, saying that he had a conversation with Allegri and that the manager would be determined to give his best in the final two Serie A matches of the season to earn a spot in Europe.

Two games, but what then for the future? If Allegri should not be reconfirmed at the helm, the name of Igor Tudor is being mentioned, who seems to have decided to end his experience at Marseille, but as is the name of Raffaele Palladino, currently at Monza.

The candidature of Thiago Motta, fresh from an excellent season at the helm of Bologna, is also emerging, as well as foreign suggestions, such as Porto's Sergio Conceicao, with his contract expiring in 2024, and Julian Nagelsmann, exonerated by Bayern Munich. Giuntoli will make a decision when he arrives in Turin.

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