Giorgio Chiellini says it would have been better if Cristiano Ronaldo had left Juventus earlier in the transfer window, the 37-year-old center defender tells us in conversation with DAZN. “Had he left earlier, we would have had more time to better prepare for the new season.”
Ronaldo made the switch from Juventus to his longtime love Manchester United on August 28 this year, just before the transfer window closed. Chielini acknowledges that the moment of the transfer did not suit his club afterwards. “It would have been better for us if that had happened earlier. We ended up paying a price for that. We lost points because of that.” Chiellini is referring to the weak start to the competition of the Turin superpower, as Juventus only managed to take two points in his first four games in Serie A.
Looking back on Ronaldo’s departure, Chiellini indicates that Ronaldo above all “needs a team that plays for him”. “He needs that to score goals. If he plays in such a team, then he is decisive. He has proven that again in recent months, as he has also proven with us. But here at Juventus we had just started rejuvenating the squad. A fresh start.” In his three years at Juventus, Ronaldo has scored 101 goals and assisted 22 in 134 official games.
However, Chiellini thinks Ronaldo could have been important had he stayed with Italy’s current number seven. “He would have been valuable then. But it is understandable that he now thinks more about the present than about the future.” Ronaldo has got off to a great start at Manchester United, as he has already scored six goals in the first eight games since his return to Old Trafford. The Portuguese attacker gave Ronaldo Manchester United a 3-2 victory over Atalanta in the Champions League on Wednesday evening with a goal in the final phase.
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