Juventus director Fabio Paratici assures Cristiano Ronaldo will stay to the end of his contract and warns Atalanta “can be the Italian Leicester City.”
The Bianconeri chief spoke to reporters including Sky Sport Italia and the Corriere dello Sport after an awards ceremony.
“It’s a long season ahead of us, Inter are the rivals with the best credentials and I think our win at San Siro was important in proving who we are,” said Paratici.
Juventus director Fabio Paratici assures Cristiano Ronaldo will stay to the end of his contract and warns Atalanta “can be the Italian Leicester City.”
The Bianconeri chief spoke to reporters including Sky Sport Italia and the Corriere dello Sport after an awards ceremony.
“It’s a long season ahead of us, Inter are the rivals with the best credentials and I think our win at San Siro was important in proving who we are,” said Paratici.
“Napoli are also strong, while I believe Atalanta are at the same level by now. They don’t have the same history as the other clubs, but are proving themselves consistently on the pitch. They can be the Italian Leicester City.”
While Leicester shocked the world by winning the Premier League under Claudio Ranieri, Atalanta have been progressively growing over the years with Gian Piero Gasperini at the helm.
No Serie A club has amassed more points or goals in the 2019 calendar year than Atalanta, who qualified for the Champions League and currently sit third in the domestic table.
Juventus have won the last seven editions of the Scudetto in a row, but make changes under new boss Maurizio Sarri.
“Our Coach is firmly in command of the situation at Juve. He was unable to train for a month due to pneumonia, but was always firmly in the saddle.”
Paratici hit back at reports 34-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo could leave at the end of this season to seek another new challenge.
“Absolutely not. He is concentrated on the objectives he has set for himself and I really doubt he’ll leave at the end of this season or the campaign after that.
“We are very happy with Ronaldo and he is very happy with Juve.”
Ronaldo is under contract until June 2022.