Juventus ace Aaron Ramsey has revealed how Cristiano Ronaldo helped him settle at the club after his switch from Arsenal last summer.
The 29-year-old joined the Turin giants on a free transfer in the first big move of his career since joining the Gunners in 2008.
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In turn, coupled with having to adapt to a new country, culture, squad and environment, it would have been a lot for the Welshman as he would also have been desperate to make a positive start with the reigning Serie A champions.
He’s bagged four goals and one assist in 24 appearances so far this season, and he has now revealed how important Ronaldo was for him in the initial period where he was still settling into life as a Juventus player.
“He’s a great person as well as an unbelievable player and one of the best in history,” he is quoted as saying by The Sun. “For example, the first time I had a training session at the club, I went into the canteen and he said, ‘Come and sit by me’.
“We just started talking immediately and he made me feel at ease straight away as did the rest of the team.
“That’s a little insight into the sort of guy he is. I don’t need to tell you about his footballing ability or the records he has but I can tell you that he’s a great guy, he loves his team-mates and he gives everything in training.”
Ramsey will perhaps be a little disappointed that he hasn’t been able to have a bigger impact at Juventus so far this season with injuries proving to be problematic too.
Nevertheless, Ronaldo clearly played an important role in the early stages of his move, and although it’s perhaps only a small gesture and something to be expected of teammates, it still shows the class of the Portuguese superstar to do his best to make sure Ramsey was settling in well so he could ultimately give his best on the pitch to help the team win.
Time will tell when the season gets back underway amid the coronavirus crisis, but Ramsey will be hoping to make a big impression to end the campaign on a positive note, while Ronaldo, 35, will look to add to his tallies of 25 goals and four assists in 32 outings thus far.
As noted by his teammate above, we all know about the class of Ronaldo on the pitch, but clearly he has shown plenty off it too.