Cristiano Ronaldo: Players who joined Serie A after CR7 and his huge impact on the league

Cristiano Ronaldo; a household name in the footballing world. Regarded as the greatest footballer of all time by many, the rest file him under 'one of the best'. Age is just a number for the Portuguese superstar and taking up new challenges is seemingly his prime hobby. One of the challenges he took was when he decided to leave Real Madrid for Juventus in 2018.

No one first believed when the rumours of Real Madrid's all-time highest goal scorer joining the Old Lady in Turin started surfacing. But Ronaldo made his mind and packed his bags for Turin.

Juventus paid close to $100M for the then 33-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, which is a record in itself. However, the defending Serie A champions had a proper idea what the global superstar will bring along with him. Here's a brief view of what Cristiano Ronaldo brought to Serie A just after his move.

1. Juventus opened their first merchandise outlet in Rome after Cristiano Ronaldo joined the team
2. Cristiano Ronaldo is the first celebrity to reach 200M followers on Instagram

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Juventus clearly profited more from the deal as Ronaldo shone for them on and off the pitch. Millions of Ronaldo fans started following Juventus and the club benefitted from the increased exposure on social media.

Ronaldo's impact on Serie A

Now, when we look at the Ronaldo to Juventus deal from a bigger view, it shows us how the superstar's move has profited the Serie A too. The Italian top-tier league lost a bit of their shine as well as their fan following somewhere in the previous decade. The loyal fans of their respective Serie A clubs surely supported their team but the Italian sides were losing fans around the world. A league where players like Kaka, Ronaldinho, Ibrahimovic and Beckham once played, had no star player to engage the fans.

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The fall of Serie A at a global level can directly be pointed out towards the fall of the two big Milan teams. Inter Milan and AC Milan were the giants in the 2000s but they lost their legendary status in the next decade. Juventus were the only team with big players and that made the league quite one-sided. However, Cristiano Ronaldo's entry sparked a new life in the league. Fans started watching the league again just for their favourite superstar which made Serie A mean business again.

An example of Cristiano Ronaldo's direct impact on Serie A

1) The Sony ESPN network bought the rights of Serie A in 2018 and dropped LaLiga in the next year. (For India)

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Players who joined Serie A after Cristiano Ronaldo

1. Romelu Lukaku
2. Alexis Sanchez
3. Aaron Ramsey
4. Christian Eriksen
5. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
6. Ashley Young
7. Matthijs de Ligt
8. Adrien Rabiot
9. Diego Godin
10. Henrikh Mkhitaryan
11. Chris Smalling                             

It’s not like Cristiano Ronaldo joining the Serie A encouraged the other stars to join the respective teams. But a superstar like Ronaldo has surely played a huge role in altering the perception of the league. Having been a part of multiple title-winning sides across Europe, Juventus fans will now hope that Cristiano Ronaldo brings them the ever-elusive Champions League title; if and when the campaign resumes, that is.

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