Time waits for no man – except Cristiano Ronaldo, apparently. The Portuguese forward, now 35 years young, started finding the net on a regular basis as a wee lad at Manchester United, and he hasn’t stopped scoring ever since.
So, Juventus would be crazy to even consider selling their number seven, amid rumours that Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain are eyeing a dramatic move for the superstar in the coming transfer windows.
Tuttomercatoweb has reported that I Bianconeri are concerned about the financial implications of the ageing forward’s gargantuan contract, and are actually banking on an English or French giant to come forward and save them from this vast pit of endlessly burning money.
Ronaldo’s contract in Turin expires at the end of the 2021/22 campaign, and it’s no exaggeration to suggest that with each passing year, the Old Lady is taking a step further away from potentially winning the elusive Champions League – the sole reason for which they signed the former Man Utd star.
If Juventus have slipped to a position where winning Europe’s biggest tournament is more of a distant dream than a reality, it begs the question: do they really need Ronaldo right now? Spoiler – no, they don’t.
This is not a slight on the ex-Real Madrid hero, far from it. Instead, it is a sign of the ever-shifting football landscape, and how Juventus have changed tack in the last three years. When Ronaldo made the shock decision to switch Spain for Italy back in the summer of 2018, there was a genuine belief around the club that he could be the differential needed to push the Old Lady over the edge and finally lay her hands on the Champions League once again.
The squad seemed to be close to its peak (even if some players were slightly over the hill), and all that was missing from the team was a player who had a relentless thirst and passion for winning trophies – and knew exactly how to do it. Continue reading