Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Manchester United will continue to receive coverage endlessly in the coming weeks and months.
In Italy, the focus has obviously been on his exit from Juventus, and over the past week the Turin club have made clear that Ronaldo insisted on leaving in the summer window.
As such, the stance has been that they weren’t able to keep him, rather than it being their decision to let the superstar go.
When it became clear the player would be leaving the Serie A club, there were some suggestions it could be a blessing in disguise. Ronaldo had been Serie A top scorer last season, with his 29 goals being five clear of Romelu Lukaku.
Despite that, there were claims the Portugal international had held Juventus back, and that they could move forward better without him.
As it stands, the club are 16th after three matches, and have picked up just a solitary point.
This is obviously something of a crisis as far as the Italian media are concerned, even if only a few matches have been played. Gazzetta dello Sport have spoken to a couple of experienced mental coaches, who have a background of working with footballers.
One of those is Roberto Civitarese, and when asked about the impact of Ronaldo leaving, and new manager Massimiliano Allegri arriving, he said: “Compared to other teams, Juve has experienced a strong change compared to its recent past, with two important breaking points: the arrival of Allegri and the departure of Ronaldo.
“Each change involves a somewhat traumatic period: in some situations the adaptation is faster, in others less. In general, the adaptation is much faster when the starting point is negative. Juve came from a season that was not exciting but not so strongly negative, so they need more time to adapt to the novelties of this season.”
Juventus face Malmo on Tuesday evening in the Champions League, which is a great chance for them to get things on the right tack.
