Serie A: AS Roma, Lazio and Salernitana under investigation

Searches were carried out on Wednesday at the headquarters of AS Roma, Lazio Rome and Salernitana, as part of investigations into player transfer operations, according to Italian media.

The investigation targeting Roma concerns transfers made between 2017 and 2021, while that linked to Lazio and Salernitana, the Salerno club (Campania, south), relates to the sale of players between these two clubs over the same period, when they belonged to the same owner, Claudio Lotito, still boss of Lazio.

La Salernitana changed hands last season when the club moved up to Serie A, with regulations not allowing the same person to control two teams playing in the same division.

In a statement released Wednesday evening on its site, the Campania club clarified that « the current property is totally foreign to the operations under investigation, which concern the seasons preceding the change of ownership ».

The preliminary investigation concerning Lazio and its boss Mr. Lotito is based in particular on suspicion of issuing « invoices for non-existent transactions », according to the agencies AGI and Ansa.

The subject of player transfers and possible artificially inflated capital gains that could improve club accounts is at the heart of the case concerning Juventus Turin. The bianconero club has been sanctioned by the sports authorities with a withdrawal of fifteen points in the standings and is at the heart of legal proceedings.

Several former Turin leaders could be sent to trial, at the request of the Turin prosecutor’s office. The next hearing is scheduled for May 10 to examine these dismissal requests from twelve people, including ex-president Andrea Agnelli.