Ronaldo’s Juventus Move is Good (and Bad) News for Italian Football

By Rotimi Daramola (@Papi_TheGreat)

Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to join Italian Serie A outfit, Juventus, did not come with a record-breaking fee – at least the amount PSG paid to get Neymar Jr is still standing.

The Portuguese player, after nine years of playing (and shattering records) for Real Madrid, completed the move for a fee of £99.2m.

Not bad for a 33-year old player who could have easily gone to Qatar, joined the MLS or moved to the Chinese Super League.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s move, as expected, has put the Serie A in a different light – one of the positives of the transfer. This does not mean the league has now become more popular than the English Premier League or the Spanish La Liga but Ronaldo’s heavyweight move has tipped the scale, to an extent.

This is just one of the many good things that this move has done for the club and the league as a whole. The aftershock of this move has been pretty massive, with several players and ex-players (Paul Pogba, Diego Godin and Zinedine Zidane) all now being rumoured to join Juventus.

With this move, the Serie A returns to the front-pages of newspapers and websites instead of being relegated to the back by the “other popular leagues.” The glory days of the early 2000s must surely be returning.

But this story does not come with a fairytale ending.

For all the good that this transfer brings to Italian football, it is outweighed by the bad that comes along with it – well, this is relative, depending on which side of the picture you’re looking at.

Juventus adding Ronaldo to their ranks only means one thing: the Juventus dynasty that has ruled Italian football for a while is set to continue. Napoli, under Maurizio Sarri pushed them all the way last season and still lost.

It’s quite unsure how far – or hard – sides like AS Roma, Inter Milan and Napoli will push the Old Lady this season. But one thing is certain: Cristiano Ronaldo in a Juventus jersey, for the next four years, is an unfair advantage; one that may just make the league a one-horse race.

This one-horse race will mean a drastic reduction in the intensity of competition. If this was a move to an English club, fears of a lack of competition would be unfounded. The PL is always competitive whether on a hot Sunday afternoon or on a cold, wet and windy Tuesday evening.

But this is the Italian Serie A: a competitive league in its own right; a league whose competition always ends with Juventus finishing top of the table at the end of the season.

With Ronaldo headed to Italy for the next four years, T.V. coverage will definitely follow. More eyes will be fixed on the league and the week-in, week-out performances of the current holder of the FIFA Best Player of Year award.

And of course, we know which way the bulk of the T.V rights money will swing.

But like the saying goes, “All is fair in love and war.”

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus move is a big blessing for Juventus. But it’s also a weapon in the hands of the Old Lady; a weapon which will be used to “terrorize” the other 19 Serie A football clubs.

Do you think otherwise? Do you think Ronaldo is too old to recreate his Real Madrid magic? Do you think all my forecasts are coming too early?

Leave a comment and share your thoughts with me — let’s discuss football!

Tags: transfer market