Ronaldo has ‘told me that he’s staying,’ says Juventus coach

Ronaldo, who has 12 months remaining on his Juve contract, has been the subject of much recent transfer speculation with Spanish TV show El Chiringuito suggesting a return to Real Madrid could happen. There was also talk of a return to the Portuguese star’s first professional club Sporting CP, while Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport reported Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes had offered the 36-year-old striker to Manchester City.”Let’s clarify this issue, Ronaldo told me that he’s staying,” Allegri told reporters ahead of Juve’s Serie A opener at Udinese on Sunday.”He has always trained well and has always been available.”Ronaldo ‘means guaranteed goals’Despite Juve’s stuttering form last season, Ronaldo was Serie A’s top scorer with 29 goals.”[Cristiano] Ronaldo didn’t play in our friendly on Thursday because I gave him half a day off to recover after a week of intensive training,” Allegri told the Juve website on Saturday.’He’s available for tomorrow. He gives us an extra gear and means guaranteed goals. We must work as a team to get the most out of him. At the start of his second spell with Juve, Allegri won five Scudettos with Juve from 2015 to 2019.”The first game is always difficult,” added Allegri. “Udinese are a strong, powerful team and they had one of the best defensive records last season in terms of chances conceded. “They didn’t concede from corners and they’re dangerous on the counter with fast, skilful players.””It’s going to be a finely fought season and you can’t have peaks at 100 and then 30, better to have a cruising speed of 80 to 90.”