Cristiano Ronaldo: Sarri has defined role for Juventus star
The new Juventus manager gave more information about his plans for the Portuguese forward during the International Champions Cup press conference.
Maurizio Sarri took over the successful reins at Juventus from Massimiliano Allegri ahead of the new season, and he has already begun to share some clues as to how the club's main star will be deployed.
Ronaldo role clearly defined
"I'm going to first use Cristiano on the left in attack," Sarri said. "But really, with the quality he has, he can play anywhere.
The Portugal legend moved between multiple attacking positions in his first campaign with Juve, playing on the wings, through the middle and in partnership with Paulo Dybala. The role where he proved himself as arguably the world's best, however, was generally coming in from the left. His spells at Manchester United and Real Madrid saw him scare defences around Europe with an incredible scoring return.
WIth the former Napoli and Chelsea boss unlikely to change to much from the 4-3-3 formation that has served him so well, the 34-year-old appears to be set to return to this defined role, despite earlier comments from Sarri.
"He's very experienced and has won everything, individually and collectively," his new coach concluded, as the plans get their first real test against Tottenham Hotspur in the International Champions Cup in Singapore.
De Ligt slams "nonsense" reports
The Italian confirmed new signing Matthijs de Ligt will "certainly play part of the game" in a bid to quickly integrate the Netherlands international into his new surroundings.
De Ligt, 19, signed from Ajax this week in an €85.5 million deal despite reported interest from Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United. The defender denied being swayed by the wage on offer in Turin, though, slamming reports which claimed otherwise.
"At a certain point it was a bit tiring [hearing all the reports]," he told Dutch newspaper AD.
"The most insane thing I read was that I wouldn't go to PSG because I wanted to earn more than Kylian Mbappe. What nonsense.
"Mino [Raiola] is my agent, he deals with the business side, but that only mattered after my sporting choice was made."