FORMER Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri reportedly told club chairman Andrea Agnelli to sell Cristiano Ronaldo before he left in 2019.
The 53-year-old stood down as the Old Lady gaffer at the end of the 2018-19 season after guiding the Italian side to five consecutive Serie A titles.
He worked with Ronaldo, 36, for one year after he lured the Portuguese forward away from Real Madrid in 2018 in the hope he would guide them to Champions League glory.
Ronaldo arrived to Turin having won the European Cup four times in five years, and there was expectation he could fire Juve to their first triumph since 1996.
But Juve crashed out to Ajax in the quarter-finals in Allegri’s last year in charge, with the ex-AC Milan manager urging Agnelli to offload Ronaldo as he was stalling the growth of the club.
According to La Repubblica via Football Italia, in Allegri’s last meeting with Agnelli, he stated that Ronaldo should also be following him out of the door.
Allegri is claimed to have said: “Get rid of Ronaldo, he’s blocking the growth of the team and the club.”
It has also been reported that the former Napoli midfielder was of the opinion that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was stopping young players from featuring in the first-team.
But Agenlli rejected his plea, and while Ronaldo fired Juve to another title last year, the club haven’t advanced passed the Champions League Round of 16 stage in the last two campaigns.
And with the Bianconeri 12 points behind Serie A leaders Inter Milan, Ronaldo’s future is in doubt – despite banging in 32 goals in 37 games this term.
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It is understood that Ronaldo and Juve will meet at the end of the season to discuss his future, with the striker’s contract to expire next year.
He angered fans on Sunday after the 3-1 win against Genoa when he angrily tossed his shirt to the ground after he failed to get on the score sheet.
And his frustration continued in the dressing room where La Gazzetta dello Sport declared he punched a wall.
Wojciech Szczesny also felt his ire after he threw the ball out with a Genoa player down injured, leading to Ronaldo being quoted as yelling: “There are ten of them, we have to attack.”
Ronaldo has subsequently been linked with a sensational return to Manchester United, with Paul Pogba to potentially move in the opposite direction.
Paris Saint-Germain are also said to be keen on landing the Euro 2016 winner, but only if Kylian Mbappe departs France in the summer.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
