Serie A Star Denies Cristiano Ronaldo Influenced Him To Join Juventus

One of the most notable Serie A defenders denied speculations that Cristiano Ronaldo was the reason he chose Juventus over Barcelona, PSG and Manchester United.

Aside from the correct pronunciation of his last name, Juventus star Matthijs de Ligt addressed some of the most interesting issues in his professional career. The 20-year-old defender from Netherlands sat down with Wojciech Szczesny in an interview on Polish YouTube channel Foot Truck (via BBC Sport) and talked about how he managed to overcome the pressure of being in the spotlight.

According to de Ligt, he knew that everybody was already watching out for what he can do inside the pitch. He said that he has learned to cope with it overtime but admitted that he is still adapting to the game.

"There were already a lot of eyes on me. Then there's even more pressure, but I knew in training I felt good. In games there was still a bit of adaptation. Step by step I improved," de Light said.

De Ligt joined Juventus from Ajax for £67.5 million ($84 million) deal back in July last year. Before the Dutchman decided to take his talents to the Old Lady, he was also linked with the biggest clubs from top five European leagues, namely Man United, Barcelona and Paris St-Germain.

Due to de Ligt’s early rise to fame, rumors swirled that Juventus superstar and Portuguese icon Ronaldo had convinced him to move to Turin with whispered words after the Netherlands played Portugal a month before he inked the said deal. However, de Ligt shut down all speculations once and for all and revealed that he reviewed all the clubs over and over again before choosing the Italian side.

"That's (Ronaldo’s) not the reason. I had a lot of time to choose between the clubs that I could join and when I put everything on paper, Juventus was the best choice," de Ligt revealed.

Last October, de Ligt reportedly has captured the attention of Ronaldo’s nemesis Lionel Messi. Reports claimed at the time that the Argentine star wants Barcelona to move in for de Ligt as a long-term replacement for Gerard Pique.

Aside from being a prospect of multiple clubs, de Ligt was also once regarded as the future Ronaldo. In fact, Edwin van der Sar, a Manchester United teammate of Ronaldo and also an integral part in the development of de Ligt, lauded the youngster for sharing the “same mentality” as “CR7” on the pitch.

“I’ve seen that with a few players. One of them is playing in the same team, Cristiano Ronaldo,” der Sar said of de Ligt.