Cristiano Ronaldo’s coming at Juventus paved the way for more Premier League players to make a move to Serie A, according to Sky in Italy reporter Gianluca Di Marzio.
Over the past few transfer windows, Serie A clubs have shown a propensity to sign players from the Premier League, with Ashley Young, Victor Moses, Asmir Begovic, and Patrick Cutrone moving to Italy in this window.
Last summer, Italian top-flight clubs signed 16 Premier League players, such as Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Chris Smalling, making up for nearly 20 percent of the players moved in throughout the whole division.
Speaking on Sky Sports News’ Transfer Show, Di Marzio said Ronaldo’s coming in Turin in 2018 helped drop Italian football in a different light for gamers worldwide.
“It is probably because we like your style of play!” Di Marzio said. “Smalling, Sanchez, Mkhitaryan… a great deal of Premier League players want to come to Italy.
“It’s better for us, probably after Cristiano Ronaldo arrived in Italy, something changed in the way we convince gamers to arrive here. Two, three, four decades back from the players’ mind it was Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and then Serie A.
“After Ronaldo something changed, we began again to be a fantastic championship and players want to come because Italy is a really wonderful country and matches are very incredible.”
Di Marzio says the intensity and physicality of the game in England makes players the perfect pick for Conte.
“He enjoys Premier League intensity, of the games, of the players, in the attitude of training,” Di Marzio said. “He wanted to Get Ashley Young at Chelsea on Deadline Day in 2017.
“Moses with him was incredible, in two years I believe that he made 78 appearances and two goals. Moses’s medical was very accurate, since he had some issues, some injuries, so for one whole day Moses had significant medicals.
“And since Conte wants to win the title in Italy, and he thinks that Premier League players, experienced players, at this moment of the championship in Italy could be very important for him to get a change, because he only has 14 or 15 players plus he wants two or three players to change the team.
“The intensity of Antonio’s training is heavy. In heavy training, they operate 12 or 13. He wants physical players, English players or Premier League players are ideal at this moment for him.”
