«But aren’t there legal uncertainties?»- Corriere.it

To understand the impact of Ronaldo’s “famous card” – according to the investigative hypothesis – we need to start with one of the emails seized by the Guardia di Finanza, as part of the investigation into Juve’s accounts. Like the one that on April 15, 2021, nine minutes after midnight, the lawyer Federico Restano (not under investigation) sent to his colleague Joao Felix Nogueira (not under investigation), an expert in tax legislation and representative of the Portuguese player: «I understand your point perfectly of view, our proposal is to sign the reduction at the same time and a binding letter in which Juventus delivers the «other writings» document to the player (the bonuses) and the side letterboth duly signed by Juventus».

That’s not all: “Second: he undertakes to reiterate the “other writings” document (bonus) on the official federal form (not yet available) by the end of July”. In practice – in the reconstruction of the Turin prosecutor’s office and the yellow flames – one agreement would have been filed as per federal regulations and the other, the “side letter”, would not.

The latter would have been the guarantee of CR7, a recognition of the debt, for which the signature of the alleged creditor is not necessary, but only that of the alleged debtor (in the case, Juve): to receive the arrears and not yet paid monthly payments subject to the “salary maneuver”. This is an important agreement since, according to the investigators, it made formally “conditional” obligations become “unconditional”.», for example to the player’s stay in the club.

If the future had been different – as it actually happened, with the move to United – the player would have been paid with incentives to leave, but with the same timing. Hence, the obligation to enter the amounts in the budget, according to the prosecutors; non-existent, on the contrary, according to Juve and the experts questioned by the club. However, convincing Ronaldo had not been easy, and this too can be deduced from the exchange of emails: «Like Cesare (Gabasio, ed) know, the central question that my client always asks himself is whether the situation contains any legal uncertainty».

Nogueira wrote to Restano, who from the large law firm collaborated with his former colleague Gabasio, who in the meantime had become head of Juve’s legal office. The correspondence had been dense, between questions and reassurances: “Allow me to double-check with the customer during the afternoon – underlined the Portuguese professional – and tomorrow I will arrive with the definitive green light”.

In short, with the OK from CR7. “I don’t expect any surprises – concluded Nogueira – please confirm that all the documents will be signed at the same time, i.e. the reduction, the bonus, and the accompanying letter”.

If this is the picture that emerged from the searches of the soldiers of the economic and financial police unit, the deputy Marco Gianoglio and the prosecutors Mario Bendoni and Ciro Santoriello they would still like to hear Ronaldo as a person informed about the facts: the last hypothesis would be to land the Portuguese with his private jet at Cuneo-Levaldigi airport, to then hear him away from prying eyes.

Not without great illusions, given that up to now the former Juventus player has ignored two summons and has not responded to the questions sent with international rogatory, in the United Kingdom, at the time of United. The magistrates would like to know whether – as they speculate – Ronaldo is or is not in possession of a copy of the side letter, whether he signed it or not, and whether he has ever been paid. With the four tranches envisaged by the agreements, from 4.88 million euros gross (out of 2.58 net), one every two months, from September-October 2021 to March-April 2022.