The Spanish call it “The Beckham rule”, because it was introduced there to allow Real Madrid to steal David Beckham from Manchester United in 2005. The Italians appropriated it in 2018 so that Juventus could bring in Cristiano Ronaldo. They call it the “Crescita Decree”. And it allowed clubs to pay only 50 percent of the tax on the salaries of expensive footballers who come from abroad.The goal was to create conditions for the best players to come to Serie A. Side effects? Foreigners have become cheaper than local players and many have linked this to the fact that Italians no longer have the stars they had at the end of the last century and the beginning of this century.The “Crescita Decree” was therefore abolished, officially on January 1 of this new year, 2024.To the benefit or detriment of Italian football? We’ll just have to see. The Italian Government abolished the regulation despite the opposition of the clubs themselves. It was estimated, for example, that Roma and AC Milan each season saved more than 20,000,000 euros in this way. Juventus 17,500,000 euros. The entire league thus saved 140,000,000 euros in taxes in the last season alone.##NAJAVA_MECA_7775495##Perhaps the easiest way to understand how much the clubs benefited from this is to compare the costs of the two Inter Milan strikers. Lautaro Martinez, who was not covered by that rule, plays for a salary of 6,000,000 euros net, and it costs Inter’s gross 11,100,000. Marcus Thuram, to whom this rule is applied over, plays for the same net salary of €6,000,000 per year, but it costs Nerazzurri gross €7,900,000 – more than a 3,000,000 euros difference.Of course, there were conditions. It only applied to players who spent at least two previous seasons abroad. And who signed contracts with Italian clubs for a minimum of two years. If they extended the cooperation later, the discount would remain.Their contracts will not be affected by this change, as it will not be applied retroactively. But for all the players that the clubs wanted to bring in this January or next summer – they will have to pay the full tax. And it is clear to you that the clubs are united in anger.”Only in Italy can a law like this be changed overnight, without any public discussion by those who are directly affected by it, and that is primarily the club,” Milan CEO Giorgio Furlani commented, adding that this change could represent “the destruction of Italian football”.His colleague from Inter, Beppe Marotta thinks the same.”This does not only concern the players, but also coaches, like Mourinho. If we wanted to bring De Zerbi back to Serie A today, we wouldn’t have the money without this rule, considering how much money is made in the Premier League… This is an own goal! A self-sabotage! Clubs will have to change strategies, we will be poor in quality”.Breaking down the ‘Decreto Crescita’ situation that could SET SERIE A BACK 🇮🇹💸It’s being reported that the Italian government will NOT extend the Decreto Crescita (Growth Decree), so it will expire on December 31st. The Decreto Crescita was introduced by the Italian… pic.twitter.com/nz57PnR6Iz— Italian Football TV (@IFTVofficial) December 28, 2023 On the other hand, politicians see it differently and claim that domestic footballers only now have equal conditions with foreigners.”It would be immoral (not to abolish it)”, decided Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who also notes that now young Italians will get more space to show what they can do.The only problem is that Salvini, a fan of AC Milan, knows absolutely nothing about football, except maybe that the clubs are greedy by nature and will work only in their own interest, and never in the interest of the country. However, they are the loudest.”Juventus, Milan and Roma will be destroyed by this. And it is not good for the state either, because it will not generate money. I don’t see how it is better for the state than a foreigner who still pays taxes in Italy to have no tax revenue at all”, asks the first man of Lazio, Claudio Lotito, also a member of the Forza Italia party, one of the ruling parties in the Italian parliament.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Juventus coach Massimo Allegri immediately answered him: “It will not affect us, because we have many young players.”And what about the smaller clubs? They are usually more objective, so Sassuolo CEO Giovanni Carnevalli says…”Whoever did this surely thought it would help, but in reality it will collapse the quality of Italian football. However, let’s not forget our academies, and until now we have invested in our boys only to sell them abroad because of these rules”.Just six months ago, the Italians had clubs in all three European finals. Many will say precisely because of this rule…
