Giorgio Chiellini concedes Juventus made a huge mistake with the way they handled Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer move to Manchester United.
The 36-year-old spent three years in Italy with the Serie A giants but decided he was in need of a new challenge in the summer with Juve struggling to assemble a team capable of challenging for the Champions League.
Ronaldo had appeared to be close to joining Manchester City during the closing stages of the summer window before United moved to prevent him from representing their local rivals.
The deal was swiftly concluded but left Juventus with no time to react or search for a suitable replacement.
The Italian club have subsequently started the campaign in sluggish fashion and Chiellini believes it was a mistake not resolving Ronaldo’s future sooner.
“I had already figured out he could leave this summer, because we reached a stage of the working relationship where Cristiano needed new motivation and a team that would play for him,’ Chiellini told DAZN.
‘When he finds a team like that, he can always be decisive, as he was at Juve too. Juventus are beginning a process of renewal and trying to bring the average age down.
‘Clearly he would’ve been an added bonus if he’d stayed, but it’s fair he wanted a team more focused on the present than the future.
‘Ronaldo left on August 28 and it certainly would’ve been better if he had gone earlier so we could prepare. Unfortunately, we paid a price for that.
‘It does create a shock to the system and we lost points in the opening games because of that. If he’d left on August 1, then we would’ve had time to reorganise and be ready for the start of the season.’
