Cristiano Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid five years ago today, and La Gazzetta dello Sport highlights that his transfer to Turin was ‘the beginning of the end’ for ex-President Andrea Agnelli.
The Serie A giants completed the signing of the Portuguese superstar on July 9, 2018, for more than €100m in an attempt to win the Champions League after seven consecutive Serie A titles.
Ronaldo signed a €30m-a-year contract and Juventus eventually paid a high price for this decision.
As highlighted by Sunday’s printed edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (page 9), the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo was ‘the beginning of the end’ for Agnelli.
Juventus won more trophies, including two Serie A titles, with Ronaldo, scorer of 101 goals in 134 games. However, their best result in the Champions League during CR7’s three-year stay was a quarter-final elimination at the hands of Ajax in 2018-19.
Ronaldo’s high salary heavily affected Juventus’ finances and the COVID pandemic in 2020 did the rest.
Juventus sold the Portuguese when they could no longer afford his salary in August 2021, with the player pushing to leave, but the club’s balance sheet hasn’t improved over the last few years.
The Old Lady confirmed a Serie A record loss of €254.3m for 2021-22 and many of their former directors, plus President Agnelli were put under investigation by the Turin Prosecutor, forcing the old board of directors to resign at the end of 2022.
The Old Lady were deducted 10 points for financial irregularities in 2022-23 and could be banned from UEFA competitions for next season.
Agnelli, Fabio Paratici and his successor Federico Cherubini have been banned for several months by the FIGC and Juventus have recently appointed ex-Napoli director Cristiano Giuntoli to strengthen the team and balance the books with sales and through the reduction of the club’s wage bill.
And the deal also meant Marotta left for Inter. What terrible business that deal was.