Cristiano Ronaldo ended his dispute with the Spanish law and settled yesterday his case for tax fraud by paying a €19M fine and accepting a 23-month suspended jail sentence. He will obviously avoid going to prison because a first offender can serve less than a two-year sentence under probation. The agreement was already arranged and his court appearance in Madrid lasted only 15 minutes. The prosecutor believed that the striker obtained significant income from image rights between 2011 and 2014 but failed to pay the taxes on that in his subsequent declarations. Ronaldo denied any wrongdoing but took the plea deal to avoid the trial.
Cristiano also got involved with a couple of fans in the last couple of days. Juventus supporter Elena Di Martino from Mondovì went viral yesterday as she posted picture with broken glasses and a wounded nose, as she was hit in the face by a shot by the Portuguese striker. Ronaldo sent an autographed post card to a 97-year-old fan, who recently wrote him a letter encouraging him to lead the team to victory. The granny ran a kiosk for 70 years and used to showcase the sports newspaper when Juventus won the day before and hid them when they lost.
An injury note: Sami Khedira was ruled out late for the Chievo game, where he was heavily rumoured to start, with was described as a knee contusion, so a minor injury. However, according to Tuttosport, on his day off he flew to Germany for a consult, so there could be some updates on that front soon.
Stefano Sturaro is finalizing his move to Genoa as undertook the usual medicals this morning. He talked briefly to Tuttomercatoweb: “I am happy to be here, I return after four fantastic seasons at Juventus. You know how important Genoa is to me. I am thrilled and look forward to starting.” Sturaro was loaned to Sporting Lisbon this summer, but never got to play due to an Achilles injury and stayed in Turin to nurse it. He collected 64 appearances in three years Juventus, where he was useful for his versatility but did not blossom as central midfielder as the management anticipated when they invested in him.
Juventus keep growing their business internationally and they inaugurated a new academy in China, in Shanghai, the fifth one in that country after those in Zhuhai, Meishan, Tiajin and Nainjing. The two-day event was attended by the brand ambassador and club legend David Trezeguet. Juventus now count 54 of these structures in the world.
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