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Juventus Sporting Director Claims Cristiano Ronaldo Wasn't First Choice Signing

Juventus Sporting Director Claims Cristiano Ronaldo Wasn't First Choice Signing

The former Real Madrid forward made a big move over the summer but according to one Juventus official they wanted someone else first.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Cristiano Ronaldo is likely to help Juventus win their seventh Serie A title in a row sometime this season but according to Juventus' own sporting director the five time Ballon d'Or winner wasn't their first choice.

For the umpteenth time since joining Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo made it sound like he was going to leave the Spanish club almost as soon as they won their third Champions League title in a row last May.

Because of the amount of times he was on the verge of leaving the Bernabeu without it ever happening you had to forgive all the cynics for thinking that once again he'd be lining up for Los Blancos at the beginning of the next season.

However it didn't take him all that long to actually get a move, signing for Juventus for around £90 million in the summer.

Having won the Italian title for six year in a row before Ronaldo arrived the Old Lady weren't exactly in desperate need of help in the league and he seems to have been bought in order to help win the Champions League.

So it's surprising to learn he wasn't their first choice, that's according to the club's sporting director Fabio Paratici. Talking to Gazzetta dello Sport, via FourFourTwo, he said:

"I had a thought about [Gianluigi] Buffon leaving, the team having won seven championships, and having had a tough Champions League exit,"

"So something had to be done to motivate the squad.

"I met with [chairman] Andrea [Agnelli], [vice chairman] Pavel [Nedved], and we all agreed. We must give the entire environment a shock. A positive shock that can project Juventus over certain limits.

"There are two ways to motivate the team. The first way? It was to buy Icardi and unleash an incredible fiasco, or we can sign Cristiano Ronaldo."

Icardi is one of the best strikers in Italy. Image: PA Images
Icardi is one of the best strikers in Italy. Image: PA Images

Icardi has scored 109 Serie A goals for Inter, is the club captain and their most important player and would have no doubt been a brilliant signing for Juve domestically.

Signing him to help in the Champions League would have been an odd choice though as this season was the first one that the Nerazzurri had qualified for the competition since Icardi joined.

The 25 year old did score four goals in six games in the Group Stage but couldn't help Luciano Spalletti's side qualify for the Knockout Stages.

The signing would have rocked Inter but it seems likely that the Ronaldo signing will do more for the Turin side overall.

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Topics: Football News, Mauro Icardi, Serie A, Transfer stories, Transfer rumours, Italian Football, Juventus, Transfer news, Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid, Inter