Serie A Side Sampdoria Facing Points Deduction Over Unpaid Wages

The 2022/23 campaign has been one filled with difficulties for fans of Sampdoria, who currently find themselves just one place off the bottom of the Serie A table with just 11 points from 22 matches.

Yet despite seeing their beloved team enjoy just two wins all season and having mourned the death of their former star Gianluca Vialli, it seems there could be even more bad news on the way for supporters of the Blucerchiati.

According to this report from La Gazzetta dello Sport, Sampdoria have failed to pay their players and staff for the final quarter of 2022, with a total of €11 m ($11.76 million) in wages still outstanding.

Failure to pay that money this month would lead to a points deduction, with further reports in the Italian media believing that the players may agree to waive the sums owed to them in order to avoid the club being punished.

However, that would only be a temporary solution, with that aforementioned story from La Gazzetta dello Sport going on to insist that Samp need a capital injection of around €35-50 million ($37-54 million) is required to keep the club afloat until the end of the season.

Fans have certainly not held back in their hatred for club owner Massimo Ferrero, who revealed to La Presse that he had been sent “four bullets in three years” in the mail as threats against him.

He has been in control of the club since 2014, but has been seeking to sell Sampdoria over the last three years after being arrested for fraudulent bankruptcy of his other businesses.

However, Edoardo Garrone – who owned the club between 2002-11 – believes that Ferrero is making things worse by refusing to negotiate with potential buyers who want to save Sampdoria.

Those bids included one from a consortium headed by Vialli, but as Garrone wrote in an open letter last month, Ferrero and his family simply dismissed any approach.

“Since 2019, Sampdoria have been existing in a state of crisis due to the general situation that enveloped President Massimo Ferrero and his businesses,” he said.

“It was therefore normal for me, especially due to our rapport of reciprocal respect, to step up and join in when Gianluca Vialli asked me to help him purchase Sampdoria in 2009, supporting him in negotiations and agreeing to join the investment.

“You will all remember the constant one-upmanship from Ferrero, which took Vialli to eventually withdraw the offers after almost a year of attempts.”

After that bid from Vialli failed, American investment company Merlyn Partners and Alessandro Barnaba made an approach and Ferrero’s response drew more ire from Garrone.

“Their proposal includes a very serious industrial plan to rescue and relaunch the team,” he continued in that open letter. “As we all know, this scenario did not happen.

“The proposal from Barnaba and Merlyn Partners was not even taken into consideration by the owners, who evidently have other objectives that do not include rescuing the club, nor the board of directors that with its refusal condemned to failure the last, only and best solution that could guarantee a positive future for Sampdoria.”

That positive future seems further away than ever, with the club 10 points away from safety even before any potential deductions.