Juventus director Paratici addresses Ronaldo rumours: “Having him in the team is a privilege.”

Speaking to Sky Sport before his club’s 3-1 win over Cagliari, Juventus director of sport Fabio Paratici addressed the rumours linking Cristiano Ronaldo with a move away from Turin following the midweek Champions League exit to Porto.

The Portuguese forward, who scored a hat-trick in just over half an hour of play against the Sardinians, has been subject to criticism as well as transfer talk, breaking his silence on social media several days after the Porto match to reiterate his commitment to the Bianconeri.

“It makes me smile, I never thought that in my career I’d have to discuss Cristiano Ronaldo’s value, whether having him is a positive or a negative. I grew up in a village in lower Padania, called Borgonovo Val Tidone, and these are the sorts of conversations I would have at the bar, talking about Rivera, Mazzola, Baggio and Platini. I never thought I’d be able to have them at these heights.”

“We are talking about a player who scored 41 goals in 38 games for Juventus in 2020. He’s Serie A’s top scorer, he’s won five Ballon d’Ors and I’ve lost count of how many times he won Champions League. He’s already won many titles with us, and having him in the team is a privilege. We’re holding on to him and enjoying it as much as possible, we’re happy to have him with us. He represents Juventus’ future.”

“This has been a unique year, we’re all playing many games and we can’t be at 100%, even if we would like to be. Everything is more difficult compared to other years, so the team has had many good matches and some not so good, as the others have.”

On Dejan Kulusevski:

“He’s 20 years old, and like all 20-year-old players he’s constantly developping, we’ll see which positions he performs best in and how he’ll progress physically. This was the case with Pogba, Dybala, Coman and Bentancur as well, at that age players change and need to play in one position rather than another.”

 
 

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