On Thursday Juventus touted his “great professionalism” and said, “The events allegedly dating back to almost 10 years ago do not change this opinion, which is shared by anyone who has come into contact with this great champion.” Some of his many corporate sponsors have been far more equivocal , with Nike and EA, the videogame maker, juventus jersey expressing “concern” and vowing to “monitor the situation.” But will that last? Those in football on the run from the FBI include father and son fugitives Hugo and Mariano Jinkis who run Argentina’s sports media company Full Play International. EA Sports declined to comment specifically on downplaying its online association with Ronaldo. The fans have to scrimp and save to go to the matches, buy the kit and pay their TV sports subscriptions. If Manchester United sign Sanchez, they will have a terrifying attack, and a terrible defence, just like Liverpool. And, if United sign Sanchez, how come he’s not included in that three-man forward line?

Apparently, he’s looking for a partner. Looking after Stiles is an entirely different issue to running the modern football business. I’ll let the world of business know. This headline screams out what is wrong with this country, and most of the rest of the world. I am a Manchester United fan but all this has got out of control. If you had played a dream league soccer game then you are a big fan of Juventus because Cristiano Ronaldo is in the club. Players too made their feelings clear, with Leeds United stars wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the logo ‘football is for the fans’ before their Premier League clash with Liverpool. They couldn’t believe the Premier League club had been so brazen. Well, the league table suggests United are inferior to City right now – as did the performance when they met at Old Trafford – but United do have a lot of forward options, so Sanchez will need to be at his best to earn selection.

First, sell your soul to Satan, then you need to throw all your ethics out the window, open a bank account in the Cayman Islands, sign up hundreds of 12-year-olds from countries like Senegal, Guinea, Argentina and Brazil, ideally from impoverished backgrounds and living in slums, pay their families token sums of money and tell them they are the next big thing and you have ties with top teams across the globe and were best man at Zinedine Zidane’s wedding. So let’s not pretend new money started ‘the rot’ as you call it. The juventus 2019/2020 home jersey represents a choice, a promise, a call to action. Juventus had to explain to Italy’s financial regulators that nothing sketchy was going on. Then you play the numbers game because out of the 1,000 kids you’ve signed up, you just need to wait until one makes it big, then ditch the rest, they were never going to make it, transfer him every two years taking about 20 per cent of the fee from the clubs, juventus new jersey plus a cut from him. It has been like this in American sport for years. So qualifying as, say, a lawyer or an accountant – as many agents are – does not require the same years of training as a footballer?

And roughly 14 years ago, writing in The Times, I devoted an entire column to a blueprint of how deals could be done, club to club, using a secure web network that would bypass exorbitant agents’ fees. Milan is seeking its first trophy since being taken over by Chinese ownership a year ago, and a title would give the Rossoneri something to show for after purchasing an entire squad’s worth of new players. FIFA does not keep an official record of football’s all-time leading scorers, but Ronaldo claimed the title himself. The official kits are awesome in the game but people need to make their own kits. They know contractual law, they know tax law, they know law regarding media and image rights, they have negotiating skills and achieve strong inter-personal relationships with key people. Ronaldo’s club and national teams have accepted his denials. Ronaldo’s blanket denials could yet be the end of it. The founding members of the proposed European Super League would be guaranteed a spot without qualification – a move which would all but end hopes of any club outside England’s top six playing in Europe’s most elite competition.