Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus future is reportedly still up in the air, as I Bianconeri move into a new era with the re-appointment of Massimilano Allegri as head coach.
Allegri succeeds Andrea Pirlo, who was sacked in May after a disappointing fourth-placed Serie A finish in 2020/21, bringing to an end a run of nine straight scudetti for Juve – although they did win a 14th Coppa Italia.
According to Goal, the club’s hierarchy are growing increasingly concerned that Ronaldo is weighing up his options.
Clearly any club would be mad to let one of the greatest players of all time – who, at 36, is still performing fairly close to the peak of his powers – leave without a fight, but given that Ronaldo only has a year left on his deal, this summer could be Juve’s last chance to get a fee for the former Real Madrid and Manchester United icon.
While a return to either of those former clubs would appear unlikely – although United haven’t exactly done badly out of superstar forwards in their mid-30s in recent years (see: Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Edinson Cavani – a homecoming to Sporting Lisbon has been talked up – by Ronaldo’s mother, of all people.
“I’ll talk to [Cristiano] to bring him back,” proclaimed Dolores Aveiro from her balcony as Sporting fans celebrated a first title in 19 years last month. Quite how much influence the Portugal captain’s (no doubt extremely proud) mother holds over her son’s career is unclear, but of all the people to ignore…
First things first, though: Euro 2020. In what is likely to be his last Euros, could the man who is just seven goals away from breaking Ali Daei’s all-time international scoring record move closer to pulling off that remarkable feat – and inspire the holders to glory again? Not that he needs to put himself in the shop window or anything.
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