Case Against Davids Flawed, Claims Juve Chief
Wednesday 25th April 2001
Juventus president Vittorio Chiusano suggested on Wednesday that the "non-negative" result of Edgar Davids' dope test was flawed. "It seems peculiar that a player who has been subjected to 14 tests since 1997 can suddenly fail one," he said.
Davids gave his latest sample after Juve's match against Udinese on March 4. Last weekend, onefootball.com revealed that the player's urine had been found to contain the banned steroid nandrolone.
But Chiusano has now queried the testing process. "If nandrolone is the easiest product to find in urine, why is it possible that we have only seen cases come out since October?" he said.
"When the test-tubes were sent to foreign laboratories, they never found a trace of the drug. Now, all of a sudden, eight cases are discovered of a substance nobody even spoke about."
The Delle Alpi chief was also concerned about the length of time between Davids giving his sample and the result becoming public knowledge.
"How is it possible for the law to allow the result of a test done on March 4 to be notified on April 22? This will be the first question I will ask my lawyers to investigate," he said.
"We cannot accept a judgement breaking the constitutional right of defence. This is a professional matter concerning Edgar's image and the image of the club. We will do everything necessary to ascertain the truth.
"We are against doping, that has to be fought and severely punished, but we are also against summary trials. Everything has to follow the rules," he added.
Chiusano confirmed that the Dutchman will still be available for first-team selection, despite the scandal. "Davids can play all the games up until any ban is handed down, which obviously we hope will never happen," he said.
