Juventus claim innocence after alleged irregularities in Luis Suarez citizenship test
Juventus have claimed that they did nothing wrong, after the Perugia Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the Italian club were under investigation for irregularities around a failed transfer bid for Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez from Barcelona.
According to the Italian authorities, the highest institutional levels of the Serie A giants were “activated to accelerate the recognition of Italian citizenship” for Suarez.
Since the Uruguayan international is married to an Italian, Suarez would have only had to pass a “B1” citizenship test in order to forego Italian football’s non-EU regulations and could join Juventus.
However, the Perugia office alleged that topics for the citizenship test were agreed in advance, allowing the player to essentially pass the test with ease and accelerate his Italian citizenship.
The deal ultimately fell through and Suarez instead made a move to Atletico Madrid, however Juventus sporting director Fabio Paratici was later accused of providing "false information to the public prosecutors" and three members of staff at the University Giuliana Grego were suspended for eight months for taking part in the process.
In a statement on the club’s website on Friday, Juventus confirmed that they were confident their sporting director had done nothing wrong and were looking forward to seeing the investigation prove that.
“Juventus Football Club confirms that today Fabio Paratici has been notified of information regarding the guarantee and the right of defense,” read the statement.
“The crime alleged by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Perugia is exclusively Article 371 bis of the Criminal Code.
“The Club strongly reiterates the correctness of Paratici's work and is confident that the ongoing investigations will help clarify his position within a reasonable time.”