The current global best player Cristiano Ronaldo, has finally completed his dream move to Juventus, it is really 15 long years after he came very close to joining the Italian Champions as a teenager.
But this time, the Old Ladyhas completed the biggest signing in their history and that of Serie A, when they broke the bank and tabled out a total of €100 million to sign the Portugal international from Real Madrid.
However, had things been a little different and had Marcelo Salas not backed off in 2003, Ronaldo could have been at the Italian champions much sooner.
However, the deal was said to be so close that Ronaldo and his mother were seen in Rurin during his time at Sporting CP.
Gianni Di Marzio was a scout with Juventus in 2003 and explained how the story came close as Cristiano Ronaldo’s intended move to Italy happened.
Gianni explained, “After watching him in a game against Belenenses, I spoke to the player and his mother and the next day, they were both in Turin where he underwent a medical but the deal never came together, I negotiated the transfer and compiled my report on Ronaldo after scouting him but Luciano Moggi had a condition for the deal: that Marcelo Salas would join Sporting plus €3 million. The Chilean didn’t agree to that though. He didn’t want to move to Lisbon and instead he preferred to return to Argentina with River Plate and that’s why the Ronaldo to Juve move fizzled out”.
Due to the price mooted for the then Portuguese teenager, a proposed swap deal would have been the only solution Juventus would have signed Ronaldo, but when Sir Alex Furguson and Manchester United came in, he then moved to Old Trafford.
Notwithstanding, the saying ‘all good things come to those who wait’, as Ronaldo took another route from Manchester and Madrid and has finally arrived in Turin , this time around for real.
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