Like those cowards Giggs and Scholes then.
Cristiano Ronaldo : The Juventus Chapter | Fin
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They’re a far better team than us, where else would he have went?
There was a time when being a one-club player was seen affectionately by most fans, including rivals.
Point being the fact he doesn't want to leave Barça hardly means it's because he's afraid. He would have retired from Argentina a while ago if that was the case.
It’s completely different from Bayern and Bundesliga. They win it every year in April with 20 points more than the second team.
We just won serie A at the second last game after a tight battle with Napoli. In 2016/17 we won it with only 4 points more than Roma that placed second.
The main difference with the Bundesliga is that Roma, Napoli and even Inter I would say are clearly better than any other team in that league. They would easily place second and put up a good fight with Bayern.
Differently with what happens in Germany also our rivals don’t want to sell us their best players and most of the times they also don’t want to come because of the same reason. And when they do, we pay big money (90mln for Higuain, 36 for Pjanic and usually we overpay for any decent player) because our board actually wants to pour in money in Serie A. Bayern on the other hand “steal” players by making them wait until the contract expires and get them for free.
So don’t be fooled by the fact that we dominate, also Roma beating Barcelona and reaching UCL semi-finals should prove that Serie A is not an easy league at all.
#cr7juve
most creative hashtag ever
most creative hashtag ever
Ronaldo first, club second?
Thank you for the excellent insight. I better not judge other leagues like that.
To a competitive league.
It's not Juventus. It's their league. His whole season will be about the Champions League now. With that the case, he may as well have gone to PSG and won them their first ever CL
And don't pretend Serie A is competitive. I can't remember off the top of my head when anyone but Juventus won it
Same way before the treble season Bayern lost 3 titles in 4 seasons, and the one they won was with a 5 point advantage over Wolfsburg.
If you don't see a trend here with Juve winning 7 leagues in a row, them buying Higuain from Napoli or Pjanic from Roma, Roma being dismantled the next summer after finishing 2nd (Salah and Rudiger) or Napoli suffering the same fate (losing Sarri and Jorginho... so far) this summer then you're just not interested in saying that Juve are only looking stronger than everyone else, again, for 8th summer in a row.
One team has bought Ronaldo, Douglas Costa, Cuadrado, Pjanic and Higuain in the last 3 summers, the other two have signed Pastore, Kluivert, Ünder, Gerson, Dzeko, Fabian, Maksimovic, or Milik while selling their best players. You don't see the gap widening instead of closing there?. The fact that Roma and Napoli managed to milk their best seasons just before selling all their best players (and still failed to win the title) is just an anecdote.
He probably would've gone if they could manage to pay his transfer fee and wages, but it's kinda hard when you spend 400M between Mbappe and Neymar alone, and shower them with money.
It could be his first choice team if it was possible, but this move just came one season too late for them.
What are you talking about? Higuain has been elected for 2 years in a row Juve's MVP, he has been one of the key players to win 2 leagues 2 Coppa Italia and to reach a CL final.
I hear a lot of BS on Higuain by people that has hardly seen him playing, he was and is one of the best forwards in the world
Sure, it’s been won by Juventus for seven years which is a bit of a pity for the league as a whole. But the last two years, Juventus have won with 4 and 5 points thanks to some last minute winners. The Premier League has been won by 19 and 7 points. Clearly, the Serie A has been very challenging lately for Juventus in comparison. You cannot entirely compare it to PSG’s or Bayern’s situations.
I was expecting something like the training sequence from Rocky IV, except the injections part
The "FIAT workers" turned out to be a very small independent union looking for easy publicity and in facts 5 workers out of 1700 joined the strike
It was a PR stunt to begin with and Bloomberg might be a good source for NY financial markets but in this case just went along with the BS that was published online to take advantage of the Ronaldo storyTrue, there was a time like that, which placed a value more with a player's supposed integrity, than the player's ability to adapt. Player's loyalty is what was lauded. Those times are long gone.
As for Messi, he DID retire from Argentina after losing in a final, only to come back in largely unknown (at least to me) circumstances. Did this inspire confidence as to what a kind of player, or a character he is? Not to me.
How much is blind loyalty valued these days? Does Ronaldo's career suffer from his lack of it, or did it benefit him to be able to have done it in 2 (soon to be 3) different leagues? Is Messi going to be remembered as the best ever loyal player in the world, or one of the best that simply didn't test other waters? Is being a one-club legend beneficial to his legacy? I don't think so.
You know that, I'm sure, that back then the clubs had the negotiating power. They'd give 10-year contracts to the players and simply nail them to the club forever. The player then had no choice but to remain 'loyal'. I don't know about every country, but in Greece, the best player to ever have graced the game was Vassilis Hatzipanagis (look him up), who could have played among the best in Europe. He stayed in Iraklis FC, a team decorated with one Greek Cup (and a now-defunct Balkan one). Do you think he'd prefer to stay 'loyal' to Iraklis instead of playing with the best, as he did against NY Cosmos playing for the World XI? (google 'top players wasted on poor clubs' for more)
Back to Messi. He has proven his loyalty, it isn't of the matter. Loyalty is almost irrelevant when assessing footballers. Nobody could say anything to him for transferring to another league. He just won't do it, I don't know why, but it takes from his career, it doesn't add, in my opinion.
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Ronaldo doesn't care about that, he isn't some fan watching the game! He wants to play for the best teams possible for the longest time possible. Moving to a top 5 team in the world in a slower league to extend his career is why he's going there.
Oh no.... so are you Barcelona fans going to keep going with the Ronaldo thing even after he leaves Madrid? Please don’t
Doesn't really do much to convince me I'm afraid. They've already won next season's title, it's just a matter of how many points. It must get hard to celebrate league wins at this point. I remember thinking after 3 in a row that I wouldn't mind heftier competition. I certainly didn't get the same buzz as I would if United win it next season.
I can understand why Ronaldo didn't want to go back to United. As it's been done, he couldn't achieve anything more there (except being our all time top scorer)
I suppose he had his reasons for leaving, but this feels like the one Summer he should have stayed at Madrid. Head a new younger team and try to win the league title back from Barcelona
Juve get more than that for shirt sales, their deal with Adidas is structured differently than most other top clubs.
They sold 520 thousand shirts in the first 24 hours, 140 Euros per shirt... it’s insane. Adidas will get most of that but the money they’ll get from shirts isn’t irrelevant. Having Ronaldo will have a positive effect on every single source of revenue for Juventus.
This isn’t a massive risk for Juventus. If it was, it would have never happened.
No, the safest move footballing wise would have been staying in Madrid or even going to PSG.
Juve have an aging squad, after they won the title last season people were talking about the end of a cycle. They won it by 5 points and there was a point Napoli had one hand on the trophy, one year before that they finished just 4 points ahead of Roma. Serie A has been the most competitive league in the world in the past 2 years, in the 5 years before that it wasn’t the case but Napoli, Roma and Inter have stepped up.
Loads of people say he only scores as much and wins as much because of his Real Madrid teammates. He leaves and then you say it’s not a risk and that it’s going to be easy... Of course it’s a risk and he’s going to have to adapt. He’s leaving his comfort zone and should be applauded for it, especially at his age.
It's a normal transfer, top player moving from a top club to another top club.
Nothing to applaud or criticize, it's normal football.
Do you realize Juventus is currently the top 5 team in Europe, and they are almost guarantee a major trophy every year, and Serie A is probably the ideal place for players in their 30's, and if Ronaldo break scoring record in Italy and win the CL, it will be great for his legacy?
I think its a bold move, but a very wise one at this stage of his career, chance to promote his brand even bigger.
Imagine Ronaldo win everything (league, CL, Top scorer, Ballon D'or) in both England, Spain and Italy (plus all time top scorer for Portugal and won Euro, and Ballon D'or). I doubt there's another player who could match that in next 100 years.
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Oh, you had to try to climb into your high horse, didn't you?
Sucks that Real Madrid win not only another title, they also are the first team to repeat title, but it sucks double when you support both Barcelona and Juve
You just had to try and single me out for talking about my second favourite team when they sign frigging Cristiano Ronaldo
There’s nothing normal about this. It’s the second time in his career that as the Ballon D’Or holder he’s moving to a worse team. He’s nearly 34 years old and he’s leaving his comfort zone.
Oh, you had to try to climb into your high horse, didn't you?
You just had to try and single me out for talking about my second favourite team when they sign frigging Cristiano Ronaldo
Christ, this transfer just got a whole lot better. First @Vialli_92, now you. Are you going to buy a Ronaldo shirt?
"End of a cycle", 95 points, +62 GD, the end of the cycle it's more likely to come for the team that just lost Jorginho and Sarri, not the ones that added the actual Ballon d'Or.
"Roma have stepped up", they just lost 10 points compared to the 2017 season.
"Inter have stepped up", they scored 72 points, less than Liverpool or Valencia in their leagues, 2 more than Chelsea. Difference? Competting against Atalanta, Chievo, Crotone and Benevento, instead of Burnley, West Ham, Swansea or WBA.
Gotta check those Serie A facts if you're going to act like an Italian football guru starting this season.
There’s nothing normal about this. It’s the second time in his career that as the Ballon D’Or holder he’s moving to a worse team. He’s nearly 34 years old and he’s leaving his comfort zone.
Christ, this transfer just got a whole lot better. First @Vialli_92, now you. Are you going to buy a Ronaldo shirt?
Nah, but at least if Ronaldo puts 5 goals on Real Madrid in the UCL QF's this season, I'll finally be able to feel joy for his goals, last time that happened was back in 2008
.And if you want to know why I couldn't cheer for his goals with Portugal... well. One can only tolerate a certain amount of abuse from one country. I used to like you, guys
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Oh, you had to try to climb into your high horse, didn't you?
You just had to try and single me out for talking about my second favourite team when they sign frigging Cristiano Ronaldo
This season? Not like I’ve been watching Serie A since forever and been one of the most active posters in the Serie A threads, Ligue 1 threads, La Liga threads, etc. because I watch loads of football and talk about things I actually know.
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/italian-serie-a-2017-18.430813/whoreplied
Napoli lost Sarri and Jorginho. They’ve bought in Ancelotti and plenty of great players in already. Roma lost 10 points and didn’t challenge for the title but you might remember they knocked out Barcelona in the Champions League after getting out of a group with Chelsea and Atleti... Inter finished on 72 points, but they had injury problems and still massively improved and brought in players like Naingollan and are Vrij...
So yes, Serie A in the past 2 years has been nothing like what’s been in the 5 years before that and keeping the domestic dominance going for much longer will not be easy.
I think that's just a mirage, like it happened with Atletico or Leicester, some team could actually rise their level and finish within 10 points of them (maybe Inter or Roma), but it's still far from being as competitive as you're trying it to sound, especially when they just signed this guy.
Bold part, you seriously have Napoli as contenders because they brought Ancelotti in? The guy with 4 league titles after managing Juve, Milan, Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid or Bayern in the last 20 years?. He lost one to Montpellier managing PSG and was on his way to lose the Bundesliga... with Bayern Munich, a Bundesliga with Bayern and a Ligue 1 with PSG account for 50% of his league titles.
I'd be surprised if Napoli score more than 72 points this season under Carlo.
We’ll see. I think they have enough quality to repeat what they’ve done last season. They’ve bought very well so far and as of now they have a better squad than last season. Ancelotti has a poor league record but he’s one of the best managers in the world nevertheless, Napoli’s biggest problem last season was lack of rotation and I think Ancelotti will fix that at least.
They’re a complete question mark right now though.
Main reason I don’t think it will be easy for Juve to continue dominating is that I believe that as long as there’s some competition, it becomes harder to win the longer the streak is. Now that they’ve bought Ronaldo I think they’ll win it again, but I don’t think it will be a walk in the park at all. Just like last season, I had predicted Napoli to win it and this season in Spain I don’t think Barcelona will win La Liga for the same reason. Juve and Barcelona have won a lot domestically and motivation becomes a problem, especially when they haven’t done as well as they’d have wanted in the CL.
Meeting the staff and his new teammates -
"End of a cycle", 95 points, +62 GD, the end of the cycle it's more likely to come for the team that just lost Jorginho and Sarri, not the ones that added the actual Ballon d'Or.
"Roma have stepped up", they just lost 10 points compared to the 2017 season.
"Inter have stepped up", they scored 72 points, less than Liverpool or Valencia in their leagues, 2 more than Chelsea. Difference? Competting against Atalanta, Chievo, Crotone and Benevento, instead of Burnley, West Ham, Swansea or WBA.
Gotta check those Serie A facts if you're going to act like an Italian football guru starting this season.
Nah, but at least if Ronaldo puts 5 goals on Real Madrid in the UCL QF's this season, I'll finally be able to feel joy for his goals, last time that happened was back in 2008
And if you want to know why I couldn't cheer for his goals with Portugal... well. One can only tolerate a certain amount of abuse from one country. I used to like you, guys
Are you saying Atalanta, the same team that crushed Everton home and away last season, is easier than the teams you just mentioned?
It's possible that the transfer will pay out for Juve, no doubt, but I don't think it is totally certain like you seem to do. I mean, we are talking about a total investment of around €400 million for a 33-37 year old over four years. Those kind of fees are usually only paid for someone who has at least 5-10 years ahead of him for sure and therefore either possesses a resale value or stay at the club for a very long time (like young Cristiano, Neymar, Dembele, Mbappe etc.).
Didn't know about the specific adidas deal though, do you have any links for me? Would like to read more about it.
As stated earlier, I think it will also depend on how well Ronaldo will age from now on. If he declines in one or two seasons, this may become an expensive deal for Juventus.
5 Historical records that Cristiano Ronaldo can "easily" break at Juventus:
- First player to win EPL, La Liga and Serie A. No player in history has ever previously claimed top-flight titles in England, Spain and Italy.
- First player to be top scorer in EPL, La Liga and Serie A
- Most goals in a single season with Juventus. Previous record: 35 Ferenc Hirzer (1925/26). Cristiano scored 42 and 44 goals in the last 2 seasons.
- Most Serie A goals in a single season with Juventus. Previous record: 31 Felice Borel (1933/34)
- Most Champions League goals in a single season with Juventus. Previous record: 10 Del Piero (1997/98). In the last 7 seasons Cristiano scored 10-12-17-10-16-12-15 goals in UCL.
That's why he joins Juventus!
- First player to win EPL, La Liga and Serie A. No player in history has ever previously claimed top-flight titles in England, Spain and Italy.
- First player to be top scorer in EPL, La Liga and Serie A
- Most goals in a single season with Juventus. Previous record: 35 Ferenc Hirzer (1925/26). Cristiano scored 42 and 44 goals in the last 2 seasons.
- Most Serie A goals in a single season with Juventus. Previous record: 31 Felice Borel (1933/34)
- Most Champions League goals in a single season with Juventus. Previous record: 10 Del Piero (1997/98). In the last 7 seasons Cristiano scored 10-12-17-10-16-12-15 goals in UCL.
That's why he joins Juventus!
They spent 90m on him to win the CL. He’s scored 4 and 5 respectively, with 1/2 goals in the knock out stages, a respectable return but nowhere transformative. If Ronaldo has the same return/impact, it’ll be a lot of money down the sink even if they manage to maintain their domestic dominance.
I’ve said nothing about Higuain being bad so surprised you inferred that from my post.
Its a risk, but then Ronaldo is probably the only player capable of winning Ballon D'or and top scorer at the age of 31, 32 and 33.
Atalanta crushed this Everton, not this one.
Or do you think that transfermarkt puts the total market value of Serie A players in almost half the amount of the PL ones because they're just north biased?
Buffon (40) -> Perin (25)
Lichtsteiner (34) -> Cancelo (24)
Asamoah (29) -> Spinazzola (25)
Khedira (31) -> Emre Can (24)
And then there's also Caldara (24).
The team is getting younger and the transfer market isn't over yet.
At the moment this could be our starting 11:
Szczesny
Cancelo Benatia Chiellini Sandro
Can Pjanic Matuidi
Dybala Costa
Ronaldo
Cancelo Benatia Chiellini Sandro
Can Pjanic Matuidi
Dybala Costa
Ronaldo
Average of 28, not really an old team.
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