New Juventus boss Maurizio Sarri has challenged Cristiano Ronaldo to break Gonzalo Higuain’s Serie A goalscoring record for a single season.
Sarri signed a three-year deal with Juventus after his contract at Chelsea was terminated by mutual consent and the 60-year-old has a hard act to follow, taking over from Massimiliano Allegri in Turin.
The Italian won the Europa League and led Chelsea to third-place finish in the Premier League last season and is hoping for further success with Juve next term.
He is also looking forward to coaching Ronaldo, a player he feels is a level above the players he was working with at Stamford Bridge.
‘I’ve trained great players over the years, but with Ronaldo I move on to the next level, a player who is at the top of the world,’ Sarri said at his opening press conference as Juventus manager.
‘This is a lad with every record in world football and I’d like to help him set another, knowing I contributed to it.’
Sarri vowed to help Ronaldo smash Higuain’s Serie A goalscoring record (36) which the Argentinian set under his guidance at Napoli back in 2015/16.
‘I trained a player with the all-time Serie A record for goals in a single season,’ Sarri added.
‘I’d like to make that two. It’d be an enormous satisfaction.’
Sarri will meet with a select group of players in the coming days to discuss what he has planned at Juventus and reports claim Ronaldo will get a visit from his new manager on his Greek holiday.
‘We’ll talk about it this afternoon. I asked to talk to 2-3 players so we could share some ideas,’ he said.
‘Around 30 years ago, I believed I could impose my views on players, but now I realise it’s important to ask players how they view themselves and weave it all together.
‘I don’t know if I’ll visit Ronaldo in a few days or more, we haven’t organised anything.’
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