Football

Sarri: I don’t want CR7, this is what I want…

Published

7 years ago

June 23, 2019

Maurizio Sarri has wasted little time since taking over as Juventus manager and after informing the board he wants Mauro Icardi and Marquinhos the Italian tactician jetted off to the Costa Azul to tell Cristiano Ronaldo what he expects out of his star player next season.

Sarri doesn’t want CR7, he wants CR9.

Sarris idea, which is the culmination of a natural progression that has been evolving for a few seasons now, is to move Ronaldo into the middle of the attack and have him play as an out-and-out striker to maximize his goal-scoring abilities.

Last season Ronaldo ended the campaign with 28 goals, his lowest return since the 2008-09 season when he was at Manchester United. Sarri is intent on tapping into the Ronaldo who terrorized Liga defences for the best part of a decade, when he failed to score more than 40 goals only once – in his debut season at the Bernabéu when he bagged 33.

As such, Sarri is planning on setting up his side to feed Ronaldo as regularly as possible and has informed the Portuguese that he expects 40 goals out of him next season, a challenge Ronaldo is likely to be only too willing to try and meet. The current record for goals in a single season at Juventus is still held by Ferenc Hirzer, who netted 35 in 1925-26.