Why Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus transfer got Fiat workers riled

NEW DELHI: Just minutes before the highly anticipated Belgium - France semi-final clash from FIFA World Cup 2018 was to kick off, the football fraternity went tizzy over some club football news. It was about charismatic Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo transferring to Italian club Juventus from Spain's Real Madrid for a staggering fee of $130 million.

As fans of the two European club giants and otherwise were flush with contrasting emotions, an Italian trade union called USB Lavoro Privato was preparing its agenda to call for a strike at a Fiat factory.

The Agnelli family of Italy, which has owned the Turin-based Juventus club for more than 90 years, controls Fiat Chrysler Automobile NV (FCA) and Ferrari NV through its holding company, Exor NV, which owns 64 per cent of the club.

The union at the Fiat factory is upset at the promoters' show of opulence in getting Ronaldo on board. "It is unacceptable that while the workers of Fca and Cnhi continue to ask for huge economic sacrifices for years the same decision to spend hundreds of millions of euros for the purchase of a player,"the union said in an official statement.

At a time when a section of Ronaldo fans are disappointed that the 33-year old's transfer could not break Neymar's record fee when he shifted base from Barcelona to Paris Saint Germain (PSG), sample this excerpt from the union's statement:

"While the workers and their families tighten their belts more and more the property decides to invest a lot of money on a single human resource! Is this all right ? Is it normal for a single person to earn millions and thousands of families do not reach the middle of the month?"

For Juventus and the Agnelli family though, the deal could turn to be a gold mine. News agency Bloomberg quoted Eric Smallwood, president of Apex Marketing Group to report that if Ronaldo can lead the club to the UEFA Champions League final, the media exposure for that year alone would be worth about $58.3 million.

In any case, Juventus was in need of some brand value. With their iconic goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon moving to PSG, after a 17-year stint at the Italian club, they were left with Argentine Paulo Dybala and Croat Mario Mandzukic to show for star players. By all accounts, Dybala is yet to reach his full potential and Mandzukic seems to have lost some of his sting, as compared to a couple of seasons ago.

Perhaps, Fiat Chrysler, whose Jeep logo is plastered across Juventus’ black-and-white-striped jerseys, won't mind a few enraged employees as long as it comes in expense of the magic of CR7.