Giuntoli wants to build a ‘fascinating and ambitious’ Juventus

It might feel like it’s taken all summer to finally happen, but Juventus have indeed announced Cristiano Giuntoli has taken over as the new sporting director. Yes, Cristiano has returned to Continassa, only it’s a different Cristiano with a completely different role this time.

The man behind Napoli’s shrewd recruitment that led to their first Scudetto since the internet was pretty much born is now taking over at the Bianconeri with the sole goal of returning Juve back to greatness. It certainly helps that as a youngster Giuntoli was a huge fan of the club, as he narrated about his feelings in his first interview since joining the club.

“It’s been incredible really and hard to put in words. As a child I would travel from Prato by and spend eight hours on the bus to watch Juventus, so you can imagine how proud I feel right now, it’s a source of great satisfaction and it’s an amazing feeling.”

Did he have someone particular in his mind as he went through his paces in the first couple of days?

“My dad, for sure. He was a big Juventus fan and instilled that into me from an early age. I am grateful for that but at the same time I will always have a tinge of sadness as well.”

How would he describe this Juventus that he is coming into?

“Fascinating and ambitious.”

And how would he describe himself?

“It’s always difficult to talk about yourself. I always say we must work harder than the others. Whether or not we do it better, only time will tell, but I am certainly a hard worker.”

To end, the new sporting director was asked about his vision for the club.

“First of all we have put club before self, we have to put aside the ‘I’ and think as ‘we’. I would like to see us work as many heads working together with the same heart.”