Allegri: ‘Ronaldo told me he’s staying at Juventus’

Max Allegri assures Cristiano Ronaldo ‘told me he is staying at Juventus’ and never asked to leave the club, despite the on-going speculation about Manchester United.

The Bianconeri kick off their campaign tomorrow evening with a trip to Udinese.

More questions were raised when CR7 did not take part in the final pre-season friendly against the Under-23 team, with reports in England that Manchester United were seeking a reunion, following previous rumours of PSG, Real Madrid or Manchester City interest.

“Ronaldo didn’t play on Thursday because we were coming off a heavy training workload and I gave him half a day off,” said Allegri in his press conference.

“Ronaldo is an added bonus for us, because he guarantees a large number of goals. Obviously, we also have to work as a team to get the best out of an individual.”

The coach was specifically asked if Ronaldo had given any insight on where he would play this season, amid the on-going rumours.

“He has always trained well, I just read the gossip in the papers. He never told us he wanted to leave,” was the response.

“Ronaldo told me that he is staying at Juventus.”

His current contract with the Bianconeri is due to expire in June 2022 and neither party seems interested in an extension.

CR7 was purchased from Real Madrid in 2018 for circa €117m and was Serie A Capocannoniere last season with 29 goals in 33 top flight matches.

In all competition, the Portuguese legend found the net 36 times with four assists in 44 appearances for Juve.