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The biggest transfer news of the summer so far is Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Juventus. Even though Ronaldo is 33-years-old, he fetched a fee of €100 million which is the highest fee paid for a player aged 30 plus and the sixth highest transfer fee ever.
The Portuguese international’s performance has defied his age and he showed that at the World Cup when he scored a hat-trick against Spain and became the oldest player to score a World Cup hat-trick.
The Serie A may not be a big challenge for Ronaldo considering his incredible scoring record against Italian teams in the Champions League. In fact, Ronaldo has scored 10 goals against his new club and that’s a record for most goals by a player against a single opposition.
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Considering the fact that Juventus have won the last seven Serie A titles, Ronaldo should be scoring freely against other Serie A teams. Lest we forget, this is a league where a 37-year-old Luca Toni won the Golden Boot in 2015 with Hellas Verona.
All things considered, Ronaldo has every chance of breaking records and achieving more milestones with Juventus.
#5 Become the first player to win the Ballon d’Or six times
As things stand, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have won 5 Ballon d’Or awards each, but Messi was the first to win the fourth and fifth award and Ronaldo played catch up.
However, Ronaldo has a great chance to beat Messi and become the first player to win the award a record six times.
Ronaldo ended his final season with Real Madrid on a high by winning a third consecutive Champions League title, scoring 15 goals en-route to lifting the trophy.
At the World Cup, Ronaldo scored four goals in four games despite Portugal failing to get past the first knockout stage.
Although the World Cup may have an impact on the Ballon d’Or voting, it is unlikely that any player can beat Ronaldo to the prestigious award especially if he hits the ground running with Juventus.
#4 Become the second player to win the Champions League title six times and also with three different teams
No team has lost more Champions League finals than Juventus and they lost two finals in the last four seasons including one against Real Madrid in 2017 where Ronaldo scored a brace.
The arrival of Ronaldo can surely change the fortunes of Juventus who as a team have won the prestigious trophy twice compared to Ronaldo’s five!
If Ronaldo can lead Juventus to Champions League glory which we know they are capable of, then he will become only the second player to win the Champions League with three different teams and also the second player to win the trophy six times.
Clarence Seedorf is the only player to have won the Champions League with three teams having won it with Ajax, Milan and Real Madrid.
Francisco Gento is the only player to win the Champions League six times having won the title in the first five editions of the tournament between 1956 and 1960 before winning it a sixth time in 1966.
#3 Become the first player to win the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A
Winning the league title in one of Europe’s Top 5 leagues itself is an honour a small percentage of players are bestowed upon. To win league titles in more than one league is a fantastic achievement.
To this day, no player in the history of the game has managed to win the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A. One might think what are the chances a top player has played in all three leagues with a team capable of winning the title.
Off the top of my head, I can name three world-class players who played in all three leagues with teams capable of winning the title and yet missed out in at least one of these leagues.
Thierry Henry played for Juventus, Arsenal and Barcelona but he didn’t win the Serie A during his time with the Old Lady.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic played for multiple Italian teams, Barcelona and Manchester United but he didn’t win the Premier League and finally, Samuel Eto’o played for Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea but he too didn’t win the league title in England.
Ronaldo has already won league titles in England and Spain. Unless something drastic happens, it is guaranteed that he will win the league title in Italy in his very first season and in the process become the first player to do so.
#2 Score the most goals in a single Serie A season
The Capocannoniere is the award given to the highest goalscorer in a Serie A season and 13 different Juventus players have won the award so far.
Although Juventus have dominated the league in recent years, the last Juve player to win the Golden Boot in Serie A was Alessandro Del Piero way back in 2007-08.
Cristiano Ronaldo can end this dry spell and also break the record for most goals scored in a single Serie A season.
The record is currently shared by Gonzalo Higuain (in 2016 with Napoli) and Gino Rossetti (in 1929 with Torino) with 36 goals in a season.
While at Real Madrid, Ronaldo crossed the 36 goal mark thrice and averaged 1.06 goals per game in the league.
Considering this, if Ronaldo plays over 30 games, he has a very good chance of setting a new record. His best goal tally in the league in a season is 48 goals in 35 games in 2014-15.
The current record holder - Gonzalo Higuain, also played for Real Madrid and his best goal scoring season in the La Liga yielded 27 goals (in 32 games).
Ronaldo crossed the 27 goal mark in six seasons in the La Liga, and on the three occasions he didn’t - he played fewer than 30 games but still scored at least 25 goals.
#1 Score the most goals for Juventus in all competitions in a single season
The record for most goals by a Juventus player in all competitions in a single season is held by Ferenc Hirzer who scored 35 goals in 1925-26. The second place is shared by Gonzalo Higuain, David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero with 32 goals each.
Given Ronaldo’s pedigree and the capability of Juventus to progress further in cup competitions, Ronaldo can break this record with relative ease.
Ronaldo has scored a minimum of 42 goals in all competitions in his last eight seasons. In his first season with Real Madrid, he could only manage 33 goals in 35 games.
The 33-year-old has crossed the 36 goal mark required to set a new Juventus record nine times in his career including once with Manchester United in 2007-08.
His personal best season so far saw him score 61 goals in 54 games in 2014-15. Don’t be surprised if Ronaldo manages to break his own personal record while at Juventus.
