The head of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play commission warns “Milan will not be an exception” to the rules.
The Rossoneri will present their plans for a voluntary agreement with European football’s governing body this fall, and have spent big this summer in advance of that.
“Milan will not be an exception to Financial Fair Play, because no club enjoys an exception,” Andrea Traverso cautioned in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport.
“Fair play does posterior controls though, we can’t say what to do and what not to do. Everyone is free, then there are consequences.
“Certainly Milan can’t just do what they want, if they’re buying it’s because they intend to return to high levels.
“The voluntary agreement is for new shareholders, you get four years to balance the books instead of three. Clubs need to move on the road to recovery, and UEFA will make our assessments.
“If the conditions aren’t there to do it then the voluntary agreement might not be granted. We don’t know the accounts in detail, because the transfers will go onto the books in 2018.
“The difference with Inter? It’s hard to explain, but for one thing [before this season] Milan weren’t in Europe and therefore weren’t subject to FFP.
“The other, Inter, were so if you qualify you have to respect the rules. The market isn’t over, the sums will add up in the end.
“Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain respect the deal: they have huge revenues so they can take action, just look at City.
“The rules are the same for everyone, if a club buys then we’ll assume they’ve balanced the accounts. If not, they’ll be punished, but we can’t stop them buying.”
What has to be worrying to UEFA (and Serie A) officials is that two of Milan’s marquee signings, Leonardo Bonucci and Lucas Biglia have not been registered by the club because the check for the transfers will not clear until August 11!
The pair were expected to take part in Thursday night’s Europa League preliminary round tie against Craiova in Romania, but are not in the squad.
This does mean that until that check clears, the Rossoneri cannot count on Bonucci or Biglia in competitive games.
