Daily Mirror

‘RON ONLY JOINED JUVE TO STOP FANS GETTING SO BORED’

- BY NEIL McLEMAN

CRISTIANO RONALDO was bought to stop Juventus fans getting bored with dominating Italian football, claims Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis.

The Serie A champions paid £90million to sign the 33-year-old from Real Madrid and will pay him £25m a year.

But De Laurentiis alleged the transfer was made for commercial

reasons and could destabilis­e the club which has won the Italian title for the last seven years.

Ronaldo arrived yesterday for his first training session with Juve and De Laurentiis said: “I hope it can help to mask the drop in enthusiasm there would have been among the fans.

“Ronaldo is a certain age and in terms of the balance of the club, it’s dangerous to spend so much money to buy a player at the end of his career.

“If you start to pay stupid wages, sooner or later it will come back and bite you.”

 ??  ?? BREATH EASY Ronaldo and (below) Gonzalo Higuain are put through tests
BREATH EASY Ronaldo and (below) Gonzalo Higuain are put through tests

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