🚨 Breaking: Napoli to face trial over alleged false accounting | OneFootball

The investigating judge in Rome has sent Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis to trial for falsifying accounts related to the financial years 2019, 2020, and 2021. ANSA reports.

In addition to the president, the judge has charged his right-hand man, Andrea Chiavelli, and the football club. The judicial process focuses on the alleged fictitious capital gains derived from the sale of defender Kostas Manolas to Roma in the summer of 2019 and the purchase of striker Victor Osimhen from French club Lille in 2020.

Naples, the figures of the Osimhen deal

The signing of Victor Osimhen by Napoli has already sparked debate on several occasions. Specifically, the agreement included, in addition to goalkeeper Oreste Karnezis, three young prospects from Napoli’s youth academy: Claudio Manzi, Ciro Palmieri, and Luigi Liguori (the first two born in 2000 and the third in 1998). According to Napoli’s financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2021, the value of the three ranged between 4 and 7 million euros (Karnezis’ value exceeded 5 million).

What were the real figures of the Osimhen transfer, according to the 2021 financial statements? The player was acquired by the Neapolitan club for €76,356,819. At the same time, De Laurentiis’ club sold the four aforementioned players to Lille, obtaining a total gain of almost 20 million euros. Here are the full figures:

Naples, the figures of the Manolas deal

How was the Manolas transfer structured? What are the figures of the agreement? The player joined Napoli on June 30, 2019, the last day Roma could record a significant capital gain in its financial statements for the 2018/19 season and thus comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations. Manolas was sold for 36 million euros and, according to official financial data, generated a capital gain of 31.1 million euros.

The player played for Napoli for two and a half seasons before the Neapolitan club sold him to Olympiacos in the winter transfer window of the 2021/22 season. The Greek club paid Napoli 1.5 million euros, which forced the club to record a capital loss of 5.7 million euros in its accounts that season.

The transfer of Manolas from Roma to Napoli is closely linked to the one that saw midfielder Amadou Diawara go the opposite way. The player, born in 1997, joined Roma for 21 million euros, and his time there ended after three seasons when he was sold to Anderlecht for 1.89 million euros, generating a depreciation of 7.27 million euros in Roma’s accounts.

Napoli’s statement

This is how Napoli defended itself: "SSCN expresses its dismay at the accusation issued by the investigating judge in Rome. All technical reports, prepared by experts, have unequivocally demonstrated the legality of the club’s actions, both regarding the financial information of the transactions and the player transfers. The prosecution itself rightly acknowledged in its final arguments that SSCN did not obtain any benefit from the contested transactions.

The club remains calm and confident regarding the outcome of the judicial process, which will begin in more than a year — with the first hearing scheduled for December 2, 2026 — where the truth will be clarified. It should be noted that, regarding an identical accusation arising from the same investigation file, the Milan prosecutor’s office has already requested the dismissal of the case against Inter."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.

📸 MARCO BERTORELLO