What is Cristiano Ronaldo's Best Position at Juventus?
Cristiano Ronaldo's frustration with the higher-ups at Real Madrid had been simmering for a while and it eventually culminated in the Portuguese forward making a move to Serie A giants Juventus for a fee that could amount to £99.2m.
"I like challenges and I know that this will be a difficult one. It’s a very tactical championship but I like difficult challenges and I don’t like to just sit down and look at my successes, I want to work hard for even more." - Cristiano Ronaldo
That he chose to use the words "tactical championship" shines a spotlight on the task at hand for Massimiliano Allegri to imbibe Ronaldo's ideas and use him to the best of his abilities.
Juventus are seven-time Serie A champions on the trot since 2011. Their primary focus will now be the Champions League - one of the key reasons a five-time winner of the competition was brought to Turin.
So where will Ronaldo play when he dons the famous black-and-white kit of The Old Lady and what are their pros and cons?
#1 Inverted Winger
Allegri rarely plays a back-three. The back-four is his go-to defensive line which leaves six spots open for midfield and attack. If he opts to go for either the 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, Ronaldo could play on the left as an inverted winger.
Of course, this means he will have to sacrifice Mario Mandzukic (more on Mandzukic later) who generally plays in that position with Gonzalo Higuain leading the line while Juan Cuadrado or Douglas Costa play out on the right.
This will allow him to cut in on to his favoured right foot. With Higuain occupying the central defenders, and Alex Sandro's overlapping runs giving full-backs a hard time, it will allow Ronaldo to find space on the left side of the box to get into goalscoring positions.
However, at 33, Ronaldo can still burst into sprints in attack but to expect him to track back on defence would be overkill. He has been criticised in the past for not getting back on defence and he rarely did for Real in his final seasons, ever ready to counter-attack once his teammates won the ball back.
What will be key here is that Paulo Dybala and Ronaldo do not step on each other's shoes when the Portuguese star comes inside. Dybala is left-footed and his natural movement could see him and Ronaldo cross paths until they work out their off-ball movements.
Ronaldo predominantly played in the centre at Real. But in the few games he did start on the left, he still managed to average more than one goal per game.