The Brazilian forward Neymar, who currently plays at Paris Saint-Germain, believes that the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid to Juventus will back the glory days in Italian football, the days which he had remembered watching while being a child.
Football news: Ronaldo’s transfer to Juventus will benefit Italian football, says Neymar
Ronaldo had an incredible spell with the Los Blancos, guiding them to 15 trophies while scoring at least 40 goals in all the nine seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu.
After Madrid won the Champions League for the third consecutive time, Ronaldo felt that it was time for him to take up a new challenge which prompted him to go for a shocking move to Juventus for a €100 million ($116m) fee.
Neymar grew up at a time when the Italian clubs Juventus, Inter and Milan were considered as one of the top clubs of Europe. Neymar believes with Ronaldo joining Juventus, it will be a turning point for Serie A as well as Italian football.
"Cristiano Ronaldo's departure for Juventus will change Italian football," Neymar told reporters.
"It will once again be the Italian football that I saw as a child.
"Cristiano is a great player, is a football legend, a genius, so we have to respect him.”
The 26-year-old player had been linked to a possible transfer to Madrid as a replacement for Ronaldo, but recently Neymar had refuted those claims and has told that he would stay at PSG this season.
Neymar’s teammate, the France prodigy Kylian Mbappe, and Belgium’s star player Eden Hazard has also been linked to Madrid as a replacement for Ronaldo.