I was expecting the recently-completed weekend to be a lot like the previous four days. Rumors ... rumors galore regarding Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo. Just another 48 hours of what we had been hearing for pretty much the entire week — Juve want to sign Ronaldo, but Real Madrid have a handful of reasons as to why it will be difficult to complete.
Things turned out to be relatively quiet.
Maybe it was just a sheer coincidence. Maybe that was all by design after the initial rush of reporting from around Italy and Spain because you can’t really get all that much more fluid of a situation unless Juventus and Real Madrid actually had announced something big.
That means, based on what we’ve heard already from Italian or Spanish media outlets, we’re basically in a waiting game of sorts. A deal could happen in a day. A deal could happen in a week. It’s totally up in the air.
Basically, what I’m trying to say is that we’ve reached the decisive days. And the Italian media is going to remind you of it every chance they get. Like, for instance, Gianluca Di Marzio’s Ronaldo-related report late Monday night:
Jorge Mendes, or someone from Ronaldo’s entourage, is expected to meet with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez tomorrow in what could be the decisive day for the transfer of the Portuguese striker to Juventus. The point of the meeting will be to get the Real Madrid directors to give the green light for Juventus to present their offer for the player.
When it comes to Ronaldo-Juventus updates, this seems to be the kind that we’re hearing a lot of in the hours after reports surfaced that Ronaldo had agreed to personal terms with the seven-time defending Italian champions. As far as we know, the thing that is most dependent on the deal happening relies on Real Madrid president Florentino Perez’s willingness to accept the reported €100 million gentleman’s agreement between himself and Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes.
But when it comes to the current situation, Di Marzio’s next sentence from the aforementioned report sums things up pretty well:
Juventus are waiting
It’s waiting. That’s what it is. The classic line on Twitter these days has to do with the next X or Y amount of hours will be crucial for the deal to get done.
Today could be a decisive day. Tomorrow could be a decisive day. Next Friday could be a decisive day. At this point, it’s just a waiting game to see if this deal can be closed and Juventus will end up making their biggest signing in over a decade.
For now, though, we wait. And may the decisive days actually be, ya know, decisive.