Carnevali, Juventus's chief executive and general manager, gave his first wide-ranging interview since taking charge in Turin, speaking to La Politica nel Pallone on Rai Gr Parlamento about his opening weeks at the club, the new sporting structure and the state of the transfer market.
"The first twenty days have been intense and fascinating, I'd say. A new challenge begins. I spent 13 years at Sassuolo and I've thrown myself into this new adventure, which is a beautiful one, with plenty to do and plenty of desire to do it," he said.
Asked about his priorities since arriving, Carnevali explained his focus had been on rebuilding the club's sporting structure.
"In these days I've tried to understand how this club works, which has a lot of resources and a lot of people, giving priority to the sporting side. One of the first things I tried to do, after analysing the various figures internally, was improve the sporting structure by bringing in a new executive to lead that area, someone like Ricky Massara, a person of great ability and knowledge.
"He'll work in synergy with another excellent executive I found here, Marco Ottolini. Then there's Giorgio Chiellini, who will handle institutional relations. He's also a federal councillor for the Lega, and for Juventus it's an honour that he can carry out that role. The sporting area was the foundation, to try to build the Juventus of the future. Now we'll sort out the scouting department, and then the most important thing is having a coach like Luciano Spalletti, one of the very best around and an extraordinary person."
On his relationship with Luciano Spalletti and what the coach can offer, Carnevali was full of praise.
"I don't think I need to discover Spalletti's path, I think he's one of the best coaches out there, someone who always improves a team. For a club, having someone like him is important. I think today it's fundamental to build a squad that shares the same vision and the same way of thinking."
Asked about how quickly the move to Juventus came together, he described a whirlwind few weeks.
"Everything happened very fast. Clearly it wasn't easy leaving a club like Sassuolo and a family like the Squinzis. But when Juventus calls, you can't say no. I accepted immediately. I have to thank the Squinzi family, who understood that a move to a club like this could be the right step for my development. Maybe it was also nice because of how quickly it happened, diving into a new path with the joy of having joined an extraordinary club."
On the difficulty of competing financially with clubs elsewhere in Europe, Carnevali struck a cautious tone.
"Unfortunately the cost of players keeps rising. There are figures now that are almost unthinkable. Italian clubs' revenues sadly can't keep pace with the other major leagues, starting with the Premier League. Certain expenses are no longer within Italian football's reach, and the rules no longer allow clubs to run up debt or for shareholders to cover losses beyond a certain point. Italian football is in real difficulty. You're always at a disadvantage competing with other leagues. We need to be aware of that, cut costs a little and look for financial balance."
Pressed on Randal Kolo Muani and reports of a €45m asking price from Paris Saint-Germain, Carnevali corrected the figure.
"No, it's higher. Today buying is easy if you meet the demands, but the numbers are too high. We need to have clear ideas. It takes patience and time to build a club that can grow, partly through the experience and setbacks we've had. Juventus is a great club, always used to winning. We have to keep carrying this club's history forward. It takes clear ideas, but also enthusiasm and people who believe in the project."