EXCLUSIVE MN - Lago: “Fair Play must be restructured, Milan-UEFA negotiation difficult. Last year I expected the Settlement "

The economist Umberto Lago, a professor at the University of Bologna, and one of the founding fathers of Financial Fair Play, was interviewed by the editorial staff of MilanNews.it.

I ask you first of all what you think of current financial fair play. So as it is structured a new property will never be able to invest to get to the same level as the others, even if wealthy like Elliott ... "There is no doubt that the PSF as it is today should be" restructured ". When it was conceived, more than 10 years ago, football was a European sector, today it is a global sector. It is no longer just the wealthy owners who are driving up the prices of players, today there is also competition from Chinese and American clubs. Furthermore, some competitions such as the Champions League and the Premier League have a global audience and this has greatly increased the revenues of English clubs and clubs that systematically play the Champions League. This created a disparity with the other clubs, which was partly taken into consideration in the expansion of the Champions League positions to 4 clubs, including the Serie A. The possibility of investing clubs was guaranteed by the Voluntary Agreement, which UEFA has not yet applied. It seems that with the change of Presidency this possibility has disappeared or that UEFA imposes very strict (and, in my opinion, questionable) stakes to access the Voluntary Agreement. I agree that there is a strong need to open up healthy capital to enter the professional football sector with serious and sustainable projects ".

Milan was recently referred by UEFA for the year 2017/18. The club will probably be sanctioned and may again resort to Tas. Does it provide for limitations and fines? "I think we are already at this point. I hope I'm wrong, but in my opinion the referral to the Judicial Chamber is the antechamber of another important sanction which, given the relapse of the club, could very well be the exclusion from the next competition for which the club should qualify ".

Do you think there is fury on Milan by UEFA? "I am unable to say whether UEFA is persistent against Milan. I must say that I was very surprised by the decision not to grant the Settlement Agreement last year. Fortunately, the TAS remedied what, I believe, was an obvious unequal treatment. Now UEFA follows its rules, Milan has asked for exceptions that could not be granted under the current rules. It seems to me frankly difficult that there is still room for a negotiation, since the Investigative Chamber has passed the dossier to the Judicial Chamber, which, at least until today, has never dealt with the clubs, but has only issued sentences ".