The glory days of Juventus Turin are not over for that long. They were still there in 2015 and 2017 Bianconeri in the final of the Champions League, but just missed out on the European crown. But the downturn began by 2020 at the latest, when the Piedmontese could not add a tenth to their ninth championship title in a row. Christiano Ronaldo then left the club and “Juve” feared that they had lost their national supremacy, which only FC Bayern enjoys in a similar form in Europe. Looking at the current table, club manager Andrea Agnelli’s alarm bells should have been ringing for quite a while, because if his team stays in fifth place, they won’t even play in the extremely lucrative Champions League next year.
However, Agnelli is not only a football official, but also sits on the board of Fiat. The industrial clan to which he belongs is one of the richest families in Italy. Agnelli and thus also Juventus Turin have a trump card against sporting failure, which has long been viewed with suspicion further south – especially in Florence and Naples: almost inexhaustible cash reserves.
That’s one reason why the club can afford to sign players like Dusan Vlahovic, who is moving from competitor Fiorentina to Turin and is said to cost almost 90 million euros with bonus payments. As the “Gazetta dello Sport” reports, Juventus should even put together a total package of 125 million euros with the striker’s salary.
With the 24 goals that the Serb has scored for his old club in the league and cup this season and his powerful style of play, the 22-year-old is seen as a great hope for a return to sporting success. Not only the fans of the club see it that way, but also the investors. After the transfer was announced on Monday, Juventus Football Club shares rose by more than six percent to just over 40 cents, but then lost this gain again during the day.
Now even a club with the most generous financial backers gets into trouble when the fans have to stay away from the stadiums and those responsible are also not exactly known for their sound management. Juventus reported a huge minus of almost 210 million euros in the 2020/2021 season, more than doubling the club’s debt. In the event that newcomer Vlahovic does not hit the club like Pavel Nedved once, who as Bravo sportposters hung in many children’s rooms and is now vice-president of the club, Juventus still has a plan B: At the last presentation of the balance sheet, it was announced that additional shares worth 400 million euros should come onto the market for investors.