On Wednesday in the Champions League against Manchester United, Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo will be favorites. But the recruitment of the Portuguese also responds to an economic logic and must allow the Turin club to reduce the gap in this area, still separates the Red Devils and a handful of other giants.
"We are going to plan, one after another, the last steps we have to make to become the N.1," Juventus president Andrea Agnelli told the Financial Times shortly after Ronaldo's signing. To be the N.1 at the sporting level, the Turinese logically rely on CR7 to win the Champions League, which he won five times, while they were stumbling on the last step with two finals lost in 2015 and 2017.
But the goal is twofold. "In parallel to the sporting progress, the objective is to consolidate our status as economic power within the world football" , indeed explained Agnelli at the recent general meeting of the shareholders of the club.
In the weeks following the signature of the five-fold Golden Ball, Juventus shares have also flown to the Milan Stock Exchange. Even if the price then fell, in the wake of rape charges against the former Madrilenian, the market reaction showed that the investment - 110 million in transfer and an estimated total cost of 340 million over the duration of the contract - did not seem disproportionate, even for a 33-year-old.
"Added value"
For Juventus, determined to become a leading global brand and redesigned its logo in this light last season, Ronaldo must be a major growth driver.
According to the latest study by Deloitte, its turnover, just over 400 million euros, ranks only 10th in Europe, far from Manchester United, rival Wednesday leader with 676 million. The bianconeri are also exceeded by the historical Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, with which they compete in recent seasons in sports, and away from the wealthy Manchester City, Chelsea or Paris SG.
In terms of commercial revenues, the ratio is almost triple that between Juve and United - 114 million against 325 million - and this is where the Ronaldo effect must be felt. "We are fully convinced that Ronaldo is an added value in every respect, in terms of business, for example, it will facilitate our global reach , " said Agnelli, who specifically targeted the US, Chinese and Southeast Asian markets. .
"Growth accelerator"
Among the immediate effects of Ronaldo's arrival is the sale of jerseys. At the AGM shareholders, the new sales manager of the club, Giorgio Ricci, and ensured that sales had "doubled compared to last season, with a significant development of online".
In foreign markets, Juve benefits from the incomparable popularity of Ronaldo, who has recently become the most followed personality in the world on Instagram with more than 144 million "followers".
Everywhere except Italy, the Portuguese is more followed than Juve, which in this sector too, has directly benefited from the recruitment of his star. Since his arrival, the Piedmontese club has grown from 49 to more than 62 million followers on the main social networks.
The club had also significantly increased the price of tickets to the stadium (more than 30% increase for subscriptions) while discussions with Ronaldo were still secret. The tifosi groups boomed, but everything was sold and the stadium refueled every game. Partnerships with the equipment manufacturer Adidas (23 million euros per year) and the sponsor Jeep jersey (16 million) could also be revised upwards.
In total, the audit firm KPMG, which qualifies the Portuguese as "growth accelerator" , estimated in a recent report that the arrival of Ronaldo could allow Juventus to increase its turnover of 100 million euros to reach 500 million "within two or three seasons".