Cristiano Ronaldo signed controversial Juventus papers, WhatsApp proof suggests | OneFootball

A WhatsApp proof has emerged online which has suggested to Prosecutors investigating Juventus’ Prisma case that Cristiano Ronaldo had signed the controversial documents that sought to hand the Portuguese a secret arrangement.

Corriere della Sera and La Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sky) have published passages from a WhatsApp chat that involves Juventus executives and it has conversations about Ronaldo signing the secret document. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, it proves the presence of the famous ‘secret card’ with which Ronaldo gave up around €19 million in the 2020-2021 season with the promise of getting that money later.

The chat dates back to 20th April, 2021 and the then Chief Legal Officer Cesare Gabasio stated the intention to get Ronaldo to sign the papers. Three days later, there are two messages from Paolo Morganti (organizational secretary at Juventus) and they say: “Cristiano has signed” and “He has a copy of all the documents”.

According to the Prosecutors, this refers to the secret Ronaldo card that they have been trying to get hold of and verify if Ronaldo had actually signed it before going to Manchester United or not. The money owed to Ronaldo has never been found on the balance sheets of the club, even though they had to pay it to the player even though he left the Bianconeri.

Ronaldo’s lawyers have consistently stated that the agreement was never signed. Paragraph 8 of the Sports Justice Code suggests that if a player is found to have agreed to private agreements that haven’t been verified, they could be suspended for at least a month.

The players who are at risk of this sanction are Ronaldo, Matthijs de Ligt, Dejan Kulusevski, Weston McKennie, Rodrigo Bentancur, Merih Demiral, Adrien Rabiot, Federico Chiesa, Alex Sandro, Juan Cuadrado, Danilo, Leonardo Bonucci and Wojciech Szczesny.

Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN