“Free Cristiano Ronaldo at the end of the season, he’s an expensive mistake’ – Former Juventus president Giovanni Gigli

Former Juventus President, Giovanni Gigli, has opined that signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid, was an expensive mistake and the Italian club should be looking to “free Cristiano Ronaldo at the end of the season”.

Juventus put a stunning deal with Real Madrid in place during the summer of 2018, to sign Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner. Though the club at first reaped financial rewards from his signing, however, the covid-19 pandemic has thrown the club into a financial quagmire.

Ronaldo has scored very important goals and broken records while at Juventus but aged 36 he has not delivered Champions League glory to Turin.

The Portugal international has taken in 121 appearances for Juve, with 92 goals recorded across those outings.

He has 27 goals this season already but following elimination from the champions league this week, questions are now being asked about Ronaldo’s signing.

When asked if Ronaldo was the wrong choice for Juve, Gigli told Radio Punto Nuovo  

“Absolutely, yes! I said that on his very first day at Juventus. He is a great champion but is too expensive.

“Now it’s up to Juventus. They’ve been paying him €1m per goal. [Juve president Andrea] Agnelli must be self-critical, but he doesn’t have great collaborators.

He added: “The club should free Ronaldo at the end of the season and the same goes for [Fabio] Paratici. He’s an expensive mistake. Maybe Agnelli had promoted him to remove him from his position afterwards. This could be the scenario.”