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Manchester United's Dutch manager Erik ten Hag (L) directs substitute Manchester United's Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo during the English Premier League football match between Southampton and Manchester United at St Mary's Stadium in Southampton, southern England on August 27, 2022. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Serie A side Juventus and former striker Cristiano Ronaldo have been embroiled in an unpaid wages case for the last few years but there are no signs things will settle down.
La Gazzetta dello Sport report that the situation isn’t settled yet. Two rulings have been favourable for the Portuguese, who has been handed a figure of €9.8 million plus interest and revaluation because of the rulings.
But Juve aren’t backing down and have sent forward a further appeal to contest the matter. This has been submitted already and the club are awaiting a hearing date.
What really happened?
The newspaper also provide further background to what really went down between the two parties.
The affair dates back to the Covid era, when Juventus reached an agreement with the players regarding the alleged fictitious forgoing of some monthly salaries to cope with the pandemic and the financial impact it had on the Old Lady.
In 2021, Juventus executives agreed over this with the former Real Madrid player through a document known as the ‘Ronaldo card’, which was cited in the investigation involving the Bianconeri’s top management and led to the resignation of president Andrea Agnelli and the former board of directors.
This was referring to a deferred payment of €19.5 million as the player’s gross salary. This sum, however, was never recorded in the financial statements, and wiretaps related to the Prisma investigation revealed that the written agreement theoretically shouldn’t exist.
Ronaldo later sued Juve in 2023 and the document was indeed found as part of investigations. But the player’s signatures were missing from it, leading to parties agreeing to an arbitration.
Kaustubh Pandey – GIFN