Chelsea’s managerial fiasco delaying Cristiano Ronaldo mega-move to Juventus — report

In what would be the biggest blockbuster move of the 2018 summer transfer window, Juventus are possibly close to signing Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid. That sentence alone is pretty amazing, but it gets even more so when we consider the finances involved (more money than their stadium cost!), the age of the player, and the fact that neither of those really matter because this is Cristiano Ronaldo and he will likely destroy Serie A with Juventus (who already dominate their domestic league, lest we forget) and could possibly get them past that final Champions League hurdle, too.

Most of the world’s media seem convinced that this will happen — and certainly, Cristiano was never expected to retire at Real Madrid, so sooner or later the now 33-year-old star of the universe would’ve left the Bernabeu — but there are still some hurdles to clear, if a few dissenting reports are to be believed.

One such report comes from Milan-based Corriere della Sera (via TMW), who weave a complex tale of butterflies flapping their wings and dominoes falling and jigsaw pieces finding their homes. It goes a little something like this:

1. Juventus need to conjure up at least €100m for the CR7 transfer fee
2. They’re hoping to finance at least part of that by selling Higuaín and/or Rugani
3. The former, but especially the latter have been strongly linked with Chelsea
4. Chelsea do not have a manager, for all intents and purposes, and the one we want is Sarri
5. Sarri has history with both Higuaín and Rugani
6. The Higuaín deal is probably a no-go (Morata’s staying), but Rugani is just waiting for Sarri
7. Chelsea have not been able to agree with Napoli owner De Laurentiis over Sarri
8. De Laurentiis (who hates Juve) is thus delaying Cristiano Ronaldo’s signing with Juventus

Whether true or not, this is amazing. ADL is a true Bond villain.