Spanish media says ‘ciao’ to Ronaldo
Real Madrid star is likely to be unveiled in Turin by Juventus after a € 100 million deal
>> MADRID: Spanish media said goodbye to superstar Cristiano Ronaldo yesterday after persistent reports that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner will leave Spanish giants Real Madrid for Italian champions Juventus.
“Ciao CR7” said the headline of Barcelona newspaper Mundo Deportivo.
“Real accepts his departure, the key day will be today [Friday] and Juve wants to wrap up the operation so it can announce it,” the newspaper said.
Spanish sport newspaper AS said that the player could be unveiled to Juve supporters in Turin as early as today, with the date 7/7 symbolic for number 7 Ronaldo.
Juventus “hopes to announce [the news] tomorrow in its stadium,” said the paper, which had the headline “Cristiano exit imminent”.
Ronaldo was applauded at Juventus Stadium by the club’s fans last season after scoring a spectacular overhead kick in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Spain’s Marca newspaper claimed that Ronaldo has “already given his word to [Andrea] Agnelli” the president of Juventus.
“His desire to play for Juve is strong,” Marca said, cautioning that the Turin club had not yet received a firm offer from Real Madrid.
The paper also said that while Real maintains Ronaldo’s buy-out clause is €1 billion (US$1.17 billion) — which would nix any potential transfer — “the player and his representatives say there is a signed document freeing him for 100 million”.
Numerous media outlets have reported since Wednesday that Juventus offered the galactico a four-year contract with €30 million per year.
The 33-year-old, whose Portugal were knocked out of the World Cup last 16 by Uruguay on Saturday, hinted after May’s Champions League victory that he was considering leaving the Santiago Bernabeu.
Real Madrid have won the La Liga twice and the Champions league four times since Ronaldo moved there from Manchester United in 2009.
Meanwhile, shares in Juventus FC jumped almost 10 percent on Thursday on the back of reports that Ronaldo might soon join the Italian club.
Juventus shares were trading nine percent higher at €0.81. Over the last three days, shares in the club have surged more than 20 percent in heavy trading volumes, as speculation over a Ronaldo transfer mounted.
Juventus won a seventh successive Serie A title in May, bringing their overall tally to a record 34 titles.
Ronaldo, who joined Real from Manchester United in 2008 for a then world record £80 million (US$105.9 million), is the Spanish club’s all-time top scorer with 451 goals in all competitions and has won two La Liga titles and four Champions League trophies with them.
Despite the glut of silverware, however, the five-time world player of the year has had frequent fallouts with Real and has declared on several occasions that he wants to leave the club.
Moments after lifting a third consecutive Champions League trophy by helping Real beat Liverpool 3-1 in the final on May 26, Ronaldo appeared to suggest he had already decided to leave, telling a television reporter on the pitch at Kiev’s NSC Olympic Stadium: “It was beautiful to play for Real Madrid.”