Images via @juventusfcen
At the end of November, the entire board at Juventus resigned amidst an ongoing investigation by the Italian financial authorities, with some reports in Italy claiming that if charges are brought against them for “accounting irregularities” then it could be worse for the Turin club than the Calciopoli scandal which saw them stripped of two titles and relegated to Serie B.
Things seem more stable two weeks on, and business as usual has very much resumed for the time being, but that is not to say Juventus are in the clear yet. They have recorded some of the biggest losses in football over the past three seasons and are still planning to bring in reinforcements in January.
From the perspective of someone focused on Polish football, how does this situation affect Juve’s two Polish players, Wojciech Szczęsny and Arek Milik? Their situations are quite different and I shall be delving into this in the next paragraph, starting with Szczęsny.
The 32 year-old goalkeeper has a contract that runs until summer 2024 with Juventus, which will take him up to the next major international tournament in which he could feature, Euro 2024 in Germany. It was reported earlier in the autumn that Chelsea were exploring the option of bringing Szczęsny to Stamford Bridge given that there were contractual issues with both of their goalkeepers when this interest was touted, but those issues have been resolved. Szczęsny will probably find himself signing a contract extension with Juventus in the coming months, but how the club engineer this will be interesting considering both their financial position and the fact they are under investigation for misrepresenting player values amongst other “accounting irregularities”. If Juventus think they can get by without Szczęsny or his wage is too much for the club to handle during this time of precarious finances for the Bianconeri, then expect to see him offered to clubs next summer so that Juve can receive a transfer fee before his contract expires. Szczęsny is in a pretty strong position all things considered, and the club will most likely endeavour to sign him to a new deal unless a top goalkeeper suddenly becomes available at a cut price.
Milik’s situation is less certain, largely because he is at Juventus on loan from Marseille. Both player and club were happy with this loan, but rumours and reports began circulating in Italy and Poland just prior to the World Cup break that Juve were unhappy with Milik’s recent form and were not interested in taking up the alleged €8 million fee to make the deal permanent at season’s end. Pleasingly, fresh reports from Italy and Poland just last week claimed the complete opposite and that Juventus saw no reason not to sign Milik, especially for such a low fee. Of course, this is speculation and if the financial situation gets worse still then Milik could be a casualty, but given he has been a pretty consistent performer for Juve since moving back to Serie A you would imagine the club will be keen to keep hold of him regardless of the financial investigation.
We will know more about how Juventus feel they can operate during this period of uncertainty when the January transfer window opens, largely on the basis of how diligently they pursue their supposed transfer targets (such as Jakub Kiwior). There is also to be a shareholder’s meeting in mid-January to establish the situation further. For now, both Szczęsny and Milik’s futures at the club seem stable.
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