"We lost a 30-goal player"- Pavel Nedved says Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure has left a huge void in front of goal for Juventus

Former Juventus midfielder and current vice-president Pavel Nedved has claimed that selling Cristiano Ronaldo has left a huge void in the club’s attacking unit.

The Italian giants agreed to sell Ronaldo to Manchester United for an initial £12.85 million fee in the summer of 2021.

They failed to win Serie A for the first time since the 2011-12 season, despite Ronaldo being the league's top scorer with 29 goals. Ronaldo's move away has had initial repercussions this season despite Juventus finishing top of their UCL group. They are currently 6th in the league and have scored the least goals among the top-11 in Serie A so far this season.

Juventus have added Moise Kean from Everton on a permanent deal this summer. They also have two strikers in the form of Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata. However, Nedved believes that other attacking players also need to step up in order to replace Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals. He said:

"In terms of implementation, we are behind. But we must add Chiesa, Bernardeschi, all the attacking players, who maybe as you rightly say they score between 10 and 15 goals. If they do, it means that you are in good shape. We lost a 30-goal player (Ronaldo), but if our players improve the sidelines we will have a better chance of getting closer to the top spots."

Can Juventus challenge for titles despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure?

Active pressing or not, Cristiano Ronaldo brought a lot of goals to the Bianconeri. He scored 101 goals in 134 appearances across all competitions during his tenure and his departure was always going to have a major impact. However, there are a lot of other issues currently plaguing Juventus as well.

They are in the middle of a lengthy transition and have young players who are not quite ready to contend for Europe’s major honors. The likes of Rodrigo Bentancur, Weston McKennie, Federico Chiesa, Adrien Rabiot and Matthijs De Ligt are all relatively young. They can be expected to improve in the coming time.

Juventus also have a range of senior players who need to be replaced in the coming time. Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini have served the club well for years but have long entered the twilight of their careers.

As Pavel Nedved himself pointed out, Juventus’ attackers are some distance away from being able to replace Cristiano Ronaldo’s goals. During the Portuguese’ tenure, fans blamed his lack of active pressing. They felt the need to build a team around him was why Juventus had struggled.

However, Cristiano Ronaldo was never going to win Juventus the Champions League on his own, that too in his mid-30s. That logic has also proven correct at Manchester United so far this season, who have been struggling as a complete team.