Latest on Juventus' Future, Targeting 'New Cristiano Ronaldo' and FIFA vs. PES

Paolo Aicardi, the chairman of the Juventus Shareholders Association, has said the club's transfer strategy will be geared towards signing the "new Cristiano Ronaldo" in the coming years.

The Italian champions shocked the football world in 2018 when they completed a deal for the Portugal international. Ronaldo had established himself as one of the best players on the planet during a nine-year stint with Real Madrid.

Speaking about the transfer, Aicardi said the acquisition of Ronaldo represented the end of a cycle and they will now begin to look to the future, per AS:

"Ronaldo was the end point of a plan that started eight years ago when [Mirko] Vucinic was our star signing.

"From him to Cristiano there were various steps: [Carlos] Tevez, [Sami] Khedira...these signings show that Juventus are bringing in the biggest names in football. When Cristiano, the number one, arrived, it was made clear that now any player can choose Juventus ahead of Real Madrid, Manchester United or Barca. 

"Today everything is possible, and the signing of [Matthijs] De Ligt is proof of that. Our next idea is to sign the new Cristiano Ronaldo, but a younger version.”

Aicardi was speaking at the Bianconeri's annual shareholders’ meeting for 2019, where club chairman Andrea Agnelli was also in attendance.

As Football Italia relayed, Agnelli outlined the club's plan for the next five years and asked the Juventus shareholders to approve a €300 million capital increase to help develop the club over that period.

The Juvefc.com Twitter account commented on the significance of the request:

Agnelli also said the club's ambitions should be to compete with the biggest clubs on the continent having dominated Serie A, winning the title in eight consecutive seasons.

"These numbers seem enormous when compared to the Italian reality, but our point of reference is the great European clubs," said Agnelli. "We can affirm that Juventus is the biggest club in Italian football, but also one of the biggest clubs in Europe. We must be extremely proud of our development and our growth rates, but we must keep with the pace."

Giorgio Ricci, the chief revenue officer of Juventus, also spoke with shareholders and was asked about the club's decision to enter into an agreement with video game producers Konami that prevents the club from being included on EA Sports' latest FIFA title.

"It was our choice to choose Konami," he said, per Calciomercato. "We support the project to relaunch the franchise that is having encouraging results. It is a strategic choice to have chosen exclusively one of the two major players in this sector."

Per 433, some Juventus supporters have already taken to their new name on FIFA 20—Piemonte Calcio:

Given the Bianconeri reached the end of a plan with the signing of Ronaldo, the club will no doubt be expecting big things from Maurizio Sarri's side this season.

Winning Serie A is a minimum requirement for Juventus—albeit Inter Milan appear poised to provide stiff competition this term—but a first UEFA Champions League title since 1996 will feel like an adequate return for the amount of investment done by the club.