The elimination of Juventus in the Champions League against Lusitanian team FC Porto has shocked the football world. The Old Lady, however favorite, could not get rid of the Dragons, led by the former Real Madrid star, Pepe, who gave all his juice to defend his family during this match. This rout not only had sporting implications, it also affected the club’s finances. Juventus stock fell more than 8.3% to 0.793 euros on the Milan stock exchange.
Let’s take a quick look at the finances of the Turin club!
Juventus finance: A Club already on the brink of crisis!
Like all other big European clubs, Juventus have been largely affected by the COVID crisis. For the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the club disclosed in its financial statement a deficit of 90 million euros. This level of losses would have been double if the club had not reached an agreement with its players to lower wages.
Worse still, in the first half of the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the Old Lady has already recorded 113 million euros in losses. The revenue from the box office is sorely lacking in the club’s finances. The early elimination in the eighth-finals against the Lyonnaise team also had adverse effects for the club’s funds in 2020. Juventus’ action had fallen by 11.5% after their failure against the Rhone. And, according to the Gazetta Dello Sport, UEFA gave the clubs that passed this stage 10.5 million euros.
Buy Ronaldo: Right bet or wrong calculation
The transfer of the Portuguese megastar for 117 million euros was made with the aim of raising the club to the top both economically and football. Unfortunately, we see that since this operation, the Turin club has not managed to generate budget surpluses. Yet three seasons before, the club’s finances were in the green.
However, we cannot deny the contribution of Cristiano Ronaldo. 24 hours after his signing, Juventus had sold more than 520,000 jerseys. The club’s annual income which previously hovered around 350 million has risen to 460 million euros for Ronaldo’s first season. At the marketing level, the club’s instagram account has seen the addition of 1.5 million subscribers. A real strike force on the stock market and for negotiating with sponsors!
Regarding the sporting aspect, the player’s contribution is considerable. In three seasons, the Lusitanian has already played 121 games, he has been decisive 92 times and won two Scudettos. However, the Portuguese have yet to meet the club’s main expectation of winning the Champions League. With the Portuguese, the team could not even manage to play a semi-final yet the Old Lady was a finalist in 2015 and 2017. In reality, the Portuguese is not alone responsible for these setbacks.
Should Juve review the project?
After the elimination of Turin in the Champions League, commentators keep asking a question: Should Juve sell Cristiano Ronaldo or should they rally world-class players alongside Portuguese? Portuguese, despite his age, remains a considerable asset, whether in sport or finance. It gives the club a strong argument to better negotiate contracts with sponsors. In addition, it allows the sale of more tickets for the matches.
The downside with the Portuguese, he would cost the club more than € 60million per year. Even if the club would like to rally to its side of the others, the Old Lady will be faced with a major problem: the payroll. World-class players are really expensive. Retaining Ronaldo could allow Juve to replenish their funds for the next two years but they risk missing out on their long-standing goal. Selling him to buy another or more other young stars to flesh out the football project would not be such a bad operation.
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