Maurizio Sarri has informed Cristiano Ronaldo of his intention to turn him into an out and out striker following their first face-to-face meeting.
After he met the Italian media for the first time since being confirmed as Max Allegri’s successor as Juventus head coach on Thursday, Sarri flew out to the south of France with Juventus chief Fabio Paratici, according to Goal.
Sarri’s fastidious approach and obsessive tactical approach was part of his undoing at Chelsea, where his redeployment of N’Golo Kante in order to accommodate Jorginho drew widespread criticism, while he also endured something of a love-hate relationship with Eden Hazard.
The Belgium international, whose transfer to Real Madrid was confirmed last week, was often used in a false nine position last season despite having made a blistering start to the season in his preferred left-wing role.
Sarri also has a similar plan in mind for Ronaldo and told the Portuguese superstar he will implement either a 4-3-3 or 4-3-1-2 formation next season with the 34-year-old likely to spearhead his attack.
Ronaldo scored 28 goals in all competitions during his debut campaign in Turin but Sarri is confident he can illicit even greater goalscoring exploits from the veteran forward.
‘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 on Thursday.
‘This is a lad with every record in world football and I’d like to help him set another, knowing I contributed to it.
‘I trained a player with the all-time Serie A record for goals in a single season. I’d like to make that two. It’d be an enormous satisfaction.’
Sarri had also hinted he sees futures for Paulo Dybala, linked with a summer move away, and Gonzalo Higuain, whom he brought to Stamford Bridge on loan in January.
Juventus, meanwhile, have already signed Aaron Ramsey from Arsenal and are closing in on the signings of Adrien Rabiot as well as Matthijs de Ligt.
