Van der Sar move under investigation

The £5 million sale of Edwin van der Sar to Fulham from Juventus in 2001 is one of 41 transfers being investigated by prosecutors as part of the growing scandal in Italian football.

Although there is no suggestion Fulham have done anything wrong, it is the first time a transfer involving an English club has been drawn into the corruption controversy engulfing Italy and centring on Juventus.

Public prosecutors in Turin yesterday ordered the seizure of documents concerning the 41 transfers, including Zinedine Zidane's £46 million world record move to Real Madrid from Juventus.

In addition 71 teams from Serie A down to amateur levels have also received requests for information from investigators probing the Turin club's transfer dealings to see if they entered lesser sums for the sale of players to avoid paying higher taxes.

Juventus' entire board resigned earlier this month along with general manager Luciano Moggi, who is being investigated for allegedly trying to influence referee appointments.

Meanwhile, Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was forced to break off from training for the World Cup to be questioned by investigators in Parma.

Buffon has been accused of betting huge sums on matches he was involved in - a practice which is against Italian law as well as the Italian FA's rules.

06:31 - 2006-May-31 - post comment