And there we have it, another Serie A title wrapped up, another Juventus Scudetto. Who’d have thought it at the beginning of the season…? Everyone? Yeah, ok. The title was seemingly only going one way this year.
After seven straight Serie A successes, with a team still very much in its pomp, Juve were odds on from the get-go. And then they went and signed one of the world’s greatest ever footballers. Is it any wonder they won it by a mile?
When the rumours first began circulating about Cristiano Ronaldo, and later when the signing was announced, almost every fan of Italian football sat up and took notice. Social media was awash with, ‘Serie A is back’, ‘The league can attract the biggest and best names again’, ‘Watch out Europe’ and so on and so forth, but what has Cristiano Ronaldo’s impact on the league actually been? In a nutshell, it made the title race absurdly dull.
Before that though, let’s look at the bigger picture. In relation to transfers, it’s too early to tell what the long-term benefits for the league is in terms of the quality of player it can attract. It could very well improve the profile and standard of player that comes in, it could trigger an influx in quality, it may not have any effect at all, only time will tell.
When we look at boosting the status of the league itself, from a marketing point of view, a player who is of the calibre of Ronaldo joining, with his commercial power, will inevitably give it a boost in terms of viewership and finance. People will have more of an interest globally now one of the greatest ever footballers has joined its ranks.
However, when you analyse how it affected the league on the football front, he did just elevate a domestic juggernaut. A club who have been hoovering up trophies for the last seven years. It would be fair to say his signing hasn’t benefitted the league at all, in fact, it’s done the opposite. He has improved an already fantastic side. The gap between them and the chasing pack has widened making the league decidedly dull when it comes to the title race.
If he’d have gone to a Napoli, a Milan, an Inter, yes, he would’ve undoubtedly improved the league because he would’ve made it more competitive.
By joining Juventus, he’s made it less competitive. From an outsider looking in, when you look at the bare facts, Juventus winning eight straight Scudettos is comparative to Celtic’s dominance in Scotland – dull, or PSG’s dominance in France – dull, sides that romp to the title almost every year. Dull. I know a lot of people are put off, rightly or wrongly, from watching Italian football due to the lack of a title race and the dominance of Juventus.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge Juve or Ronaldo for the signing, it’s not their job to ensure Serie A is competitive, they want to win at all costs, secure the Scudetto and kick on in the Champions League (less said about that, the better), but it was a bore. Another nail in the coffin of competitiveness in this league. The race for top four and Europe is much more fascinating, but we didn’t even come close to a title race.
OK, the onus is on the chasing pack to catch them, but how will they attract a player in the Ronaldo category, or close to it, when there isn’t much chance of a title? Not even a sniff of a title most seasons. Only incredibly shrewd business, a bit of luck, and the decline of Juve will begin to close the gap.
Currently, the state of Italian football is at a low ebb following the Azzurri’s failure to make the 2018 World Cup and the Serie A reflects this in its lack of competitiveness and lack of quality. Ronaldo’s signing has actually shined a brighter light on the league for people to see it’s just one elite side and then a substantially lesser sides behind them.
So, commercially, yes, he has had a positive impact, and yes it may have boosted the profile of Serie A in terms of the quality of players that it can attract in the future, but it’s had a negative effect on the here and now, it has killed the competitiveness at the top as dead as disco.
Let’s hope it opens out next year and becomes fantastically competitive once more. However, at this moment, I sincerely doubt it.
