Chiellini admits Juventus are paying for Ronaldo's departure
Stuart Hodge
- 22 Oct 2021 03:54 CDT
- 5 min read
Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini admits that Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure has cost the Bianconeri points at the start of this season.
Just eight games into the new Serie A campaign, the Turin giants already sit 10 points off the pace after losing the Portuguese superstar late in the transfer window.
Juve suffered early season defeats to current pacesetters Napoli and very surprisingly at home to Empoli, as well as dropping points in draws to Udinese and Milan, but seem to have hit their stride having now won their last seven games in a row heading into a huge weekend clash against current Scudetto holders Inter.
Chiellini, who is now in his 17th season with Juventus and fresh from achieving European Championship glory with the Azzurri in the summer, admits that the time had probably come for Ronaldo to leave the club but believes it may have had a detrimental effect on Juve’s early season form.
Ronaldo was still at the club for the early part of the campaign, albeit didn’t play, and Chiellini reckons it may have been a better idea to get him out of the club sooner to allow the team to be more mentally prepared for the departure of the 36-year-old.
Chiellini on Ronaldo
He told DAZN Italia: “We had arrived at a point in our relationship where Cristiano needed new goals and a team that would play for him because when he finds a team like that, he is decisive. He is proving it in these months and he has also shown it with us.
“Here at Juventus, a programme of rejuvenation and restarting was born. If Ronaldo had stayed, he would have been an added value, but it is normal that he thought more about the present than the future.