Turns out Tuesday was the decisive day for Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo.
And, as a result, the biggest deal in the club’s recent memory has gone down.
After a week’s worth of rumors and conjecture, what was once a laughable rumor from Tuttorsport has turned into Juventus signing one of the best players the game has ever seen. At the age of 33 years old, Cristiano Ronaldo has signed with the seven-time defending Italian champions, leaving Real Madrid and agreeing to a four-year contract with Juventus through the 2021-22 season.
The transfer fee to get Ronaldo to Turin? Basically the €100 million gentleman’s fee that has been rumored to be out there from the start.
From Juventus’ official website:
Turin, 10 July 2018 - Juventus Football Club S.p.A. announces that the agreement with Real Madrid Club De Fùtbol S.p.A. for the definitive acquisition of the registration rights of the player Dos Santos Aveiro Cristiano Ronaldo has been reached for a consideration of € 100 million payable in 2 financial years, in addition to the solidarity contribution provided by FIFA regulations and additional costs of € 12 million.
.@Cristiano https://t.co/vzGBI3d8kh #CR7JUVE pic.twitter.com/UB7BwBdDWe
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) July 10, 2018
And with that, it looks like Juan Cuadrado will be wearing a different jersey number next season.
Also true: The game has just changed. In a major, major way.
Ronaldo, on top of being the driving force behind Real Madrid winning the past three Champions League trophies, is coming to Turin at the height of his powers. Juventus haven’t signed a player of this magnitude since who? Pavel Nedved and Gigi Buffon prior to the 2001-02 season? Even then, Buffon was in his early-20s and just establishing himself as one of the best around.
In Ronaldo’s case, he’s been one of the two best players in the world for the better part of the last decade.
And now he’s a Juventus player. Seriously.
This is the declaration of Juventus’ ambitions in Europe. There’s no other way around it. We might have said the same thing when Juve signed Gonzalo Higuain two summers ago, but now with Ronaldo on board it’s completely different. There will likely be players being sold to help finance this massive summer development and to appease the Financial Fair Play folks, but if there was ever a sign that Juventus are gunning to end their near-three-decade-long Champions League drought, it’s this one.
Boy oh boy did they do it with a bombshell, too.
But, when it’s all said and done, here’s something that I didn’t think would even be possible exactly a week ago: Cristiano Ronaldo is a Juventus player. No, seriously. It ain’t a drill.