Where are they now? The five players Cristiano Ronaldo told Juventus to sign

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·30 janvier 2026

Where are they now? The five players Cristiano Ronaldo told Juventus to sign

Cristiano Ronaldo joined Juventus in 2018 and according to reports, he suggested several players that the club should sign during his time in Italy.

While some consider Ronaldo’s time at Juventus a disappointment because he didn’t win the Champions League, his output in Italy was still out of this world.

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The Portuguese superstar won five trophies during his three-year stint with the club and scored 101 goals in 134 appearances.

According to reports from the time, here were the five players that he told Juventus to sign and where they are today.

Marcelo

Ronaldo had a great relationship with Marcelo at Real Madrid and it’s no surprise that he tried to get Juventus to lure him to Italy.

In total, the pair played 332 games alongside each other, with the two of them combining for 33 goals during that time.

According to reports at the time, Ronaldo tried to convince the Juventus higher-ups to sign Marcelo, just 24 hours after he had arrived at the club.

While the links were prominent at the time, the Brazilian insisted that he never received any offers from the Italian club.

“I have not listened to any offer [from Juve],” Marcelo said in 2018.

“I have a contract with Real Madrid, and when I signalled the badge, it was to show that this is Madrid and we always come back.

“[It’s] just that — I’ve received no offer.”

The left-back eventually left Real Madrid in 2022 and had stints with Olympiacos and Fluminense before retiring in 2024.

Sergio Ramos

Later down the line, in 2020, reports emerged that Ronaldo had requested the signing of Ramos.

The Juventus defence was going through a transition at the time and CR7 was keen to be reunited with his former teammate.

However, the move never materialised and Ramos left Real Madrid a year later to join PSG and Lionel Messi instead.

These days, the 39-year-old is still active, but is currently without a club and on the lookout for his next opportunity. We hope Ramos links up with Eric Dier.

Ivan Rakitic

Ronaldo wanted Juventus to sign Rakitic so badly that he himself called the Croatian midfielder to try and convince him to join.

“It’s true that in 2019 Cristiano Ronaldo called me and said: ‘Come join us at Juventus’, and to be honest, I would have loved to play in Italy. It’s one of the regrets of my career,” Rakitic has since told reporters.

When asked if the deal didn’t materialise because Barcelona’s asking price was too high, he said: “Partially because of that and partially because I was still at Barcelona.

“I’ve been a lucky man. I played for Barcelona, then returned to Sevilla and then to Hajduk. It would have been fascinating, but it was beautiful even this way.”

The 37-year-old retired from playing last year and now works as the technical director of Hajduk Split.