Cristiano Ronaldo: Juventus sign Real Madrid star in stunning £99.2million deal
The former Manchester United is ending his nine year stay in Spain
Juventus have signed Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid in a shock £99.2million deal, the Italian champions have confirmed.
The 33-year-old star has been at the club since 2009 and is their all-time top goalscorer, having netted an incredible 451 times in 438 games.
"Today, Real Madrid wants to express its gratitude to a player who has proved to be the best in the world and who has marked one of the brightest times in the history of our club and world football," a statement on the website read.
The Portugal legend has penned a four-year contract with the Turin side, who confirmed they have paid around £99.2m (€112m), payable over two financial years, for him.
Ronaldo joined Real from Manchester United in what was then a world record £80m transfer and during his time at the club, he won four Champions League trophies - three of them consecutively - and two league titles.
"For Real Madrid Cristiano Ronaldo will always be one of his great symbols and a unique reference for the next generations. Real Madrid will always be your home," the statement finished with.
Last season, the club finished 17 points behind LaLiga rivals Barcelona, with manager Zinedine Zidane stepping aside at the end of the campaign to be replaced by Julen Lopetegui, who left his job as Spain boss, two days before their first World Cup game.
And on Twitter, former Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira, now of Juventus posted on Twitter: "Welcome to Turin, Cristiano. We had a great time together in Madrid, I can‘t wait to get back to work with you! Today is a special day for Juventus."
Ronaldo began his career at Portuguese club Sporting before joining United in 2003 and it was at Old Trafford where he set about becoming the superstar he is today.
“He didn’t arrive at Manchester United as someone who was setting the tone for everybody else," Gary Neville told talkSPORT in 2016.
"It wasn’t a case of he came in and all of a sudden everyone else upped their game, that’s not how it was.
“He became that out of what was in that dressing room. Cristiano was butchered and battered for two or three years at Manchester United and he has said it made him a man.
“He was setting the standards when he left, and he became someone who would come in and do half an hour before training and an hour after training, but there had been 20 players per season for 15 years doing that every day.
“The club, and Sir Alex [Ferguson], and the players all set the tone for each other. If you look at his performances in the first two or three years, his maturity, his decision making, his physicality, his petulance, they were all smoothed out over a period of three or four years at the club.”
In a trophy laden career so far, which has also brought an incredible five Ballon d'Or awards, Ronaldo has scored 658 goals for club and country and is second on the all time list of international goal scorers with 85 for Portugal.
Juventus have won Serie A for the last seven seasons and were beaten 4-1 by a Real Madrid team containing Ronaldo in the 2017 Champions League final. The Italian side are now set to beat their own transfer record, set in 2016, when they paid Napoli £75m for Gonzalo Higuain.