Juventus have reached an agreement with Manchester United for the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo for an initial €15 million, the Serie A club have announced.
United last Friday announced they had secured a deal to bring the 36-year-old Portugal forward back to the club subject to the agreement of personal terms, a medical and a visa.
And Juve have now confirmed United are paying €15 million for Ronaldo plus €8 million in potential add-ons, in a statement released early on transfer deadline day.
Juventus says goodbye to @Cristiano.
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) August 31, 2021
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The statement said: “Juventus Football Club announces that an agreement with Manchester United FC for the definitive disposal of the registration rights of the player Cristiano Ronaldo has been reached for a consideration of €15m payable in five financial years, which might be increased, up to a maximum of €8m, upon achievement of specific performance objectives over the duration of the employment contract with the player.”
The five-time world player of the year, who was being linked with Manchester City prior to it emerging that he was set to head back to Old Trafford, is returning 12 years after leaving United for Real Madrid.
He had six seasons with the Red Devils that saw him score 118 goals in 292 appearances and help them win three Premier League titles, a Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup, one FA Cup and two League Cups.
Ronaldo then spent nine years with Real, during which he tasted Champions League glory a further four times and became the LaLiga outfit’s all-time top scorer, before moving to Juventus in 2018.
Welcome 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲, @Cristiano 🔴#MUFC | #Ronaldo
Advertisement— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 27, 2021
Speaking about his former United team-mate Ronaldo after Sunday’s 1-0 win at Wolves, Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “He is not signing to sit on the bench. He is going to make us a better team.
“We need to get all the paperwork done, hopefully we can get that sorted and we can announce it 100 per cent.
“Then he is away with Portugal, they have three games, his last game is Tuesday (September 7th) and then we can get him back to Manchester and be involved as soon as possible.”
Ronaldo, who has scored 109 times in 179 Portugal appearances and was captain for their European Championship success in 2016, was joint top scorer at this summer’s Euros with five goals.
Juventus have moved quickly to replace him, bringing in Everton’s Moise Kean on a two-year loan.
Juve say the loan will be turned into a permanent deal subject to certain conditions being met over the course of the next two years, with a loan fee of seven million euros being paid to Everton.
Twenty-one-year-old Kean joined Everton from Juventus in 2019 and scored four goals across 39 appearance, while he had a successful loan spell on loan at Paris St Germain last season and had been linked with a move to the French capital prior to Lionel Messi’s arrival.
West Ham have strengthened their squad ahead of a busy season which will take in Europa League action, with the signing of Croatia forward Nikola Vlasic.
The 23-year-old – known to Premier League fans for a short stint at Everton – has 26 caps and six goals for his country.
Welcome to West Ham United, Nikola Vlasic! ✍️
— West Ham United (@WestHam) August 31, 2021
He joins from CSKA Moscow, having been named Russian Premier League player of the year in 2020.
Across London there has been movement at Chelsea, with defender Dujon Sterling signing a new two-year deal and moving on loan to Championship side Blackpool for the rest of the season.
Willian, meanwhile, has apologised over the way things went for him during his time with Arsenal after his contract was terminated by mutual agreement on Monday and he rejoined his first club Corinthians.
The 33-year-old Brazilian winger, who signed for Arsenal last summer following a seven-year spell with Chelsea, said in a post on Instagram: “All my career I have done everything to be the best I can be, I always want to win and I find it hard to accept not doing so. Unfortunately it didn’t happen for me at Arsenal and I am sorry about that.”
Willian also said in the message that he “received a lot of criticism especially from some members of the press that I had come here for financial reasons.”
He added: “I hope with my actions today (I) explain to those people and they now understand that was not the case. I hope it teaches some people that they should not be so quick to pass judgement and create bad environments to make themselves important even though I accept that’s part of the game.”
