Kieran Maguire cites Ronaldo as he breaks down Tottenham manager talks collapse
The same Italian tax breaks which lured Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus may have caused Paulo Fonseca’s talks with Tottenham to collapse.
That is according to finance guru and Football Insider columnist Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively about the ex-Roma boss’s now-srcapped Spurs move.
The Guardian reported on 17th June that sources close to the Portuguese claim that the deal fell through because of issues relating to tax.
As revealed by Football Insider yesterday (24th June), Spurs are now lining up talks with Nuno Espirito Santo who is being championed by managing director Fabio Paratici.
Maguire explains that quirks in the Italian tax system mean Spurs may not have been able to offer Fonseca the same take-home wage as his former employers.
He told Football Insider correspondent Adam Williams: “The rule only applies to foreign nationals. That’s why Ronaldo went there.
“What you can do is pay the Italian government a set fee and this means that a large proportion of your income gets taxed at a very low rate.
“When you are looking at remuneration, they focus on net. They don’t care how much they are being paid, they just want to know how much they actually get each month.
“So you can say: ‘I want X amount into my bank account and if you can’t do it here in the UK because of your tax system, I’ll go and get it in Italy’.
“The gross salary might be lower but they won’t care about that.”
In other news, pundit shares verdict on Tottenham potentially signing world-class Euros star after Romano reveal.