The rapid failure of the Superliga project left Andrea Agnelli, Juventus president and one of the top promoters of the new competition, in an extremely delicate position, cornered by UEFA, the Italian football leadership and the press, furious for which he interprets was an attack on the values of sport.
The president of UEFA, the Slovenian Aleksander Ceferin, did not hesitate to define him as a “liar”, some Italian managers accuse him of having sabotaged negotiations with foreign economic funds that would help the entire Serie A and others, as in the case of the leader from Parma Alessandro Lucarelli, they even branded him a “lousy businessman”.
In less than 72 hours, Agnelli went from announcing together with eleven other of the most prestigious clubs in Europe the birth of the Super League, considered a lifesaver for the greats of football, to losing nine of its founding partners hour after hour, which which forced him to “park” the project in the format initially intended.
Agnelli also resigned from the presidency of the European Clubs Association (ECA), a position that passed into the hands of Nasser Al Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain, and according to Gazzetta dello Sport he could even lose his position as president of Juventus .
John Elkann will make the final decision on Agnelli
John Elkann, owner of Exor, the largest shareholder of the Juventine team, will be responsible for the final decision, according to the aforementioned source, but beyond this, the figure of Agnelli is in a real storm.
“It may have been naive to believe the promises that Agnelli made me. But I always say that it is better to be naive than to be liars,” Ceferin told a Slovenian media on Thursday, in statements collected by the Italian media.
And it is that the harshest criticisms came from ex-footballers, who felt seriously betrayed. The most outraged of them was Alessandro Lucarelli, former Parma captain and current manager of the Parmesan team, who this Wednesday was precisely Juventus' rival.
“A man who wants to be president of a club, in addition to being a businessman, must be a man who loves sport. The values of sport are merit and competition. If these values are stepped on, creating a league only for the rich with him The sole objective of fixing the financial accounts, this man shows that he is a lousy businessman and a lousy athlete, “said Lucarelli.
The opinion that the Superliga would end up benefiting the big players by increasing the difference in levels with the smaller clubs is also shared by the president of Turin, Urbano Cairo, also very hard against Agnelli in an interview in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“Our project envisaged the arrival of foreign economic funds in the Serie A League for an amount of 1.7 or 1.8 billion euros. Money that would help everyone to overcome serious difficulties. Agnelli was part of the internal committee delegate to negotiate with the funds, “assured Urbano Cairo.
“This committee was born on October 13, 2020 and received the approval of all the clubs. Out of nowhere, the change of decision despite the fact that the vote of the league assembly had supported the operation of funds. Agnelli and the owners of Inter se they moved away and now we understand why, “said the Torino president.
Of course, in the world of Italian football, many agreed to emphasize that, regardless of whether or not a Super League is formed, the sport needs to be remodeled to adapt it to new needs.
“Football risks falling into suspension of payments. I make an example. In the last seven years Inter, Milan and Juventus spent a billion euros on the signings of footballers. An expense at this time absolutely unsustainable,” lamented Interista CEO Giuseppe Marotta, this Wednesday before Inter's Serie A match against Spezia.
“This initiative has been promoted by twelve club owners due to the economic difficulties of each one of them, mainly linked to the coronavirus. Expenses are safe, income is not,” concluded Marotta.