Grading last summer’s Juventus transfers a year later

Cristiano Ronaldo: C+

I know this seems like a harsh grade for a player who led his team in scoring and assists and

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finished top 5 in the league in both categories, but Cristiano Ronaldo was brought in for one purpose and Juventus fell well short of that goal. Not only did Juventus not win the Champions League trophy that they brought in Ronaldo for, but he was also a major distraction this season.

When a team spends the kind of money that Juventus spent on Ronaldo’s transfer and on his wages that transfer should be viewed differently than the average transfer. The fact of the matter is that Juventus spent a ton of money on Ronaldo and that prevented them from being able to reinforce the midfield, which was what was really needed for this season. His performances this season were spectacular as always, but one could argue that this season’s version of Juventus was actually worse than last season’s in spite of the addition of the second best player in the world.

Now Juventus has another transfer window to fix the midfield and the defense which could also use some help after Bonucci’s disastrous return. Without Ronaldo’s massive transfer fee hanging over their heads Juve can now get to work on fixing the areas that really need to be fixed. If those changes eventually lead to a Champions League trophy then Ronaldo’s transfer will be looked at differently than it currently is, but as long as Juve continues to fall short of their ultimate goal it will be impossible to look at Ronaldo’s transfer as anything other than a disappointment.