Ronaldo turns down audacious Chinese bid
Big Sam rejected lucrative offer
LONDON, Dec 30, (AFP): World player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo rejected a world record £257million (300m euros, $317m) bid from China, his agent Jorge Mendes has claimed.
Mendes told Sky Sports Italia on Thursday that the unnamed Chinese Super League side had offered the 31-yearold Portuguese superstar a record £85m a year as salary.
“From China, they’ve offered 300m euros to Real Madrid and more than 100m (euros) per year to the player,” said Mendes. “But money is not everything. Real Madrid is his life. Cristiano is happy at Real Madrid and it is impossible to go to China.”
China has through its Super League clubs flexed considerable financial muscle in the international transfer market, most recently buying Brazilian international Oscar from Chelsea and Argentinian veteran Carlos Tevez -- with the latter reportedly set to earn 38million euros a year.
However, Mendes said the star of his stable was out of reach. “The Chinese market is a new market,” said Mendes. “They can buy a lot of players, but then again it is impossible to go for Ronaldo.
“Cristiano is the best player in the world and best ever. It is normal to have some offers.
“He won the European Championship with Portugal, it’s like winning the Italian league with Genoa: they were not the favourite,” added the 50-year-old Portuguese.
Meanwhile, Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce claims he rejected a lucrative offer from a Chinese club before taking charge of the Premier League strugglers.
Chinese Super League teams have been spending big money in a bid to add prestige to their developing league.
Former Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez is the latest high-profile star to move to China after joining Shanghai Shenhua, while Chelsea midfielder Oscar has agreed to join Shanghai SIPG.
Managers are also in demand and Allardyce revealed he was offered the opportunity to head to Asia after his brief tenure as England manager came to an end.
“Did I have an offer? Yes. I didn’t go. I could have gone but I preferred to stay here,” he told reporters on Friday.
“It’s difficult for a player or a club to turn that down, it’s just the way of the world and changing forces in the football world.
“China has decided it wants to be a force and has decided the way to do it is to buy the best players and pay over the odds. Time will tell if it’s the right thing to do.”