5 reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus move has been a success
Cristiano Ronaldo shocked the footballing world when he ended his association with Real Madrid after 9 years at the club. The Portuguese moved to Torino to join Juventus, for a reported fee of around £105million. Ronaldo’s time at Madrid propagated his name among the greats in footballing history, winning four Champions League trophies in five years - a feat unheard of before.
Ronaldo left Madrid as a 33-year old, and there were doubts about his ability to adapt to a new style of football, especially at his age. However, the five-time Ballon D’Or winner continued his goalscoring form and remains one of Europe’s most lethal strikers.
Today, let’s take a look at:
5 reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus move has been a success
#5 Commercial Success
As we’ve recently seen with the advent of the European Super League, football has become all about capitalizing and maximizing profits, as most clubs are owned by private individuals and institutions. In addition to this, football has become a global game and relies more on new viewers encompassing an international audience.
An icon like Cristiano Ronaldo - a legend of the game - has been a huge commercial success for Juventus. To start off, Juventus’ following on social media handles soared, as the club gained close to 20 million followers since Ronaldo’s arrival. The Italian champions had 30million followers before Ronaldo, and currently stands at 48.2 million. Across all social media handles, Juve now have over 100 million followers - making them the 4th most followed football club in the world. Juventus’ Instagram handle generated 1million likes on average before Ronaldo, but the announcement of Ronaldo’s signing generated 24million likes in a couple of days.
Moreover, upon Ronaldo’s arrival, Allianz announced the expansion of their sponsorship deal, now worth €103.1 million. Adidas increased their kit sponsorship deal from €23.25million annually before Ronaldo, to €51m, as it currently stands. Jeep, too, increased their sponsorship agreement from €17m per year to €42m.
#4 Won 3 of Europe’s top League titles (Premier League, La Liga & Serie A)
After winning Serie A in his debut season at Allianz Stadium, Ronaldo achieved a rare feat in the footballing world.
The Portuguese has now won three of Europe’s top league titles, having earlier won the Premier League with Manchester United and La Liga with Real Madrid. Ronaldo was involved in 30 goals (21 goals, 9 assists) from 31 appearances in the 2018/19 Serie A season, helping Juventus lift their 8th consecutive Scudetto. The now-36-year-old proved doubters wrong yet again, adapting to a new challenge in Italian football, and remains one of Europe’s top finishers.
The Juventus squad has seemed to lack quality, especially this season. Two of their best players this season - other than Ronaldo - Morata, and Chiesa are at the club on loan, and with a partially aging squad, Cristiano Ronaldo was instrumental to their league success.