Serie A: Why Hellas Verona was the most active club on the transfer market

Investigations against President Setti

Hellas Verona has made 24 winter transfers – nine on the entry side for 7.8 million euros and 15 on the departure side for 45 million euros. No team in Europe negotiated more player transfers, none generated higher revenues or had a more profitable balance. Hellas’ sporting situation in 17th place in Serie A is extremely precarious, but strikers Milan Djuric (33; Monza) and Cyril Ngonge (23; Napoli), who were responsible for eleven of the only 21 goals so far, were sold. Or defense chief Isak Hien (25; Atalanta), the most valuable player in the squad with a market value of 9 million euros, and Filippo Terracciano (20; Milan), a homegrown player and crowd favorite. Why did the Gialloblu have this XXL upheaval and why were the best players given away?

Winter transfer window: UEFA clubs with the most arrivals/most departures

The fan-friendly blog “Hellastory” virtually anticipated the answer to the threatened sell-out at the 1985 champions at the turn of the year: “Sell or die,” was the headline of an article that included the Veronese’s financial report for the 2022/23 season had topic. “A lot of drama, which is actually more than appropriate in this case,” writes Transfermarkt user “dellascala”, who himself has a German-language blog (“mentality football“) about Hellas Verona operates in the Italy forum.

There is a negative result of 11.7 million euros in the books for last season. Hellas finished in 18th place and only secured relegation in the “spareggio”, a playoff against Spezia, who had the same points. Previously, there had been places in the secure midfield for three years, with an upward view rather than a downward view. Although top performers such as Marash Kumbulla (23), Sofyan Amrabat (27), Amir Rrahmani (29) and Giovanni Simeone (28) were sold again and again, sometimes with hefty transfer profits.

Investigations against Hellas Verona’s President Maurizio Setti

The red numbers represent the worst financial result of the Maurizio Setti era. The 60-year-old fashion entrepreneur took over the club in 2012 and led it back into Serie A for the first time since 2002 with coaching icon Andrea Mandorlini and sports director Sean Sogliano, who returned in 2022. However, the era that was actually quite successful in sport is threatening to end with a huge bang: Setti and 25 other people are being investigated for fraudulent bankruptcy, and Hellas’ club headquarters were already being investigated in December. Setti’s club shares were frozen and confiscated – the outcome is initially open.

Winter transfer window: UEFA clubs with highest income/largest expenses

Accusations against the club patron are nothing new. Hellas expert “dellascala” explains: “In recent years there have been several investigations by the Guardia di Finanza, officially not concerning Hellas Verona, but Setti’s fashion company Manila Grace. In fact, even back then there were persistent rumors that the president had used money from the Hellas coffers to patch holes in his corporate cosmos. Setti vehemently denied this. News recently came in that a group called ‘Casillo’ had taken over the factory, the business and the Manila Grace brand in a compulsory auction for just 700,000 euros. This was ordered by the court in Modena, and here too there was a deficit of 12 million euros, although Setti was able to reach an agreement with the creditors in May last year. So you can imagine where the money from the sales goes: into Maurizio Setti’s pocket.”

Since Setti’s takeover, Hellas has achieved a positive transfer balance of 103.6 million euros, only five Italian clubs are in a better position during this period. Nevertheless, the club’s net assets fell to 2.1 million as of the reporting date at the end of the 2022/23 season and the liabilities amounted to 162 million euros.

“They therefore exceeded the club’s supposed total value by more than one and a half times,” says “dellascala”. The reason for such a negative result despite transfer income amounting to 35.1 million euros was not only increased interest but also high bonus payments: “These were tripled compared to the previous season, which ended in ninth place under Igor Tudor. Absurd, but Setti obviously tried to make last season’s miracle even more attractive by providing extra motivation in monetary form. Logically, these bonuses were probably quite high, as avoiding relegation seemed impossible at many points during the season. For Setti, from an economic point of view, this seemed to be the lesser evil compared to a possible relegation.”

Sales in winter so that Hellas Verona survives the season economically

The fact that the sales were only realized now and not in the summer is another indication of the allegations against Setti, because there had already been high-dollar offers for Ngonge or Hien back then. In the summer, however, there was talk of selling the entire club to a consortium of American and British investors led by former sporting director Francesco Marroccu. Sports director Sogliano confirmed the talks during the week and also that this was off the table for the time being, although at times there was a strong expectation that a deal would be reached.

“dellascala” said: “By retaining top performers, Setti simply wanted to create better sales conditions for himself and maintain the competitiveness of the team. Now the deal must have fallen through – there is no other explanation for the sudden sale. And this is not surprising given the financial aspects listed, because the net financial position has deteriorated significantly. This serves as a key figure for measuring a company’s overall financial position vis-à-vis banks and lenders. It developed from a negative amount of 32 million euros as of June 30, 2022 to a negative amount of 65.6 million a year later. This imbalance can be ‘cushioned’ by short-term capital gains. In addition, tax liabilities increased by almost one million. As a result of these key figures, the auditors requested a written commitment from Setti to comply with various forecasts with a view to the deadline of June 30, 2024, in order to be able to guarantee business operations.

Sports director Sogliano recently explained that he would have liked to turn off the phone when he received many calls, especially regarding top salesman Ngonge. However, certain offers cannot be rejected: “The President told me that the need arises because of past expenses in which management had exceeded its capabilities. It’s not like Verona has to start selling players out of the blue because there has suddenly been a loss.” Now Hellas is on a solid foundation again, even if relegation occurs.

Sales of players served the club’s financial survival. “dellascala” concludes: “In the context of the overall situation, anything other than relegation would be an even bigger miracle than staying in the league last season. However, relegation to Serie B is the lesser evil than the worst-case scenario, which has not been unrealistic until recently: ‘dying’ in the sense of the temporary death of Hellas Verona. Let’s hope that the club will soon be free of Setti – but not through bankruptcy.” But through the takeover of another president.

After all: Despite the well-known departures, there have been four points since the beginning of the year against the direct competitors from Empoli and Frosinone as well as three narrow defeats against Inter, Napoli and Roma, in which they were usually not even the worse team. Reason for optimism? “dellascala” gives “huge praise” to coach Marco Baroni, who arrived in the summer, who “does his thing more or less unimpressed, has managed to shape the team into one and – despite all adversity – weld them together. And to motivate.”

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