Cristiano Ronaldo has “already signed” for Juventus according
to the club’s former CEO Luciano Moggi, who claimed he tried to
bring the Real Madrid star to Italy when he was a teenager.
Serie A champions Juventus are reported to have made a bid of
€100 million (£88m/$116m) for Ronaldo, who is Madrid’s all-
time leading goalscorer after nine seasons at Santiago
Bernabeu.
Moggi, who headed up Juve’s board from 1994 until 2006 when
he was a central figure in the Italian football scandal that saw
him given a life ban from football, was initially sceptical of the
deal going through , but has since claimed the transfer was
already at an advanced stage.
The 80-year-old told Italian TV network Tele7Gold : “In my
opinion, he has already signed and passed the medical
examination with Juventus in Munich.
“This is what I think after talking to important people.”
Moggi recalled his attempts to make Ronaldo a Juventus player
in 2002, when he was emerging from the Sporting CP youth
ranks and becoming one of the Primeira Liga’s hottest talents.
A proposed transfer involving Chilean striker Marcelo Salas
moving in the opposite direction never transpired, according to
Moggi, and Ronaldo joined Manchester United in 2003.
“I received an alert,” said the former Juve chief. “I sent an
observer to look at him, he was an 18-year-old boy, but he
impressed me with his maturity and his choices.
“In the middle of the day I made the contract. Unfortunately,
Marcelo Salas refused to sign for Sporting Lisbon because he
wanted to return to River Plate.
“I offered five million more for an 18-year-old player, but it could
not be done at that time.”
The prospect of the Portugal star joining up with the Turin giants
has been talked up by potential team-mate Blaise Matuidi ,
who said: “It would be great to have one of the best players in
the world with Juventus in the same club that I am.”
And the idea of the 33-year-old reuniting with former Madrid
colleague Gonzalo Higuain has the latter’s brother and agent
excited, as he believes they would be “fantastic” together .
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