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Ronaldo soap opera, Act 1

Drama between megastar, Real Madrid has many layers, is just getting started

- Martin Rogers mjrogers@usatoday.com USA TODAY Sports FOLLOW REPORTER MARTIN ROGERS @mrogersUSA­T for sports analysis and breaking news.

We can say with certainty that Cristiano Ronaldo is soccer’s biggest star and Real Madrid is the sport’s most glamorous club, but everything else surroundin­g those two and their public soap opera is open to debate.

Ronaldo, according to multiple news media reports out of Europe, is so furious at a perceived lack of support from his employers, after Spanish authoritie­s alleged the star failed to pay $16.5 million in taxes, that he wants out.

Out of Madrid, out of Spain’s La Liga, out of the five-year, $118 million contract he signed in November, and back into the welcoming arms of the English Premier League’s Manchester United, the team that sold him to Madrid for a $105 million transfer fee in 2009.

That sum would seem like pocket change this time, even with Ronaldo now 32. Soccer’s money train only gathers speed and exponentia­lly outstrips inflation. Marca, a newspaper that effectivel­y serves as Madrid’s club mouthpiece, revealed that the ownership would be prepared to let Ronaldo go if another team came in with an offer in excess of $400 million. That’s a non-starter, though something significan­t- ly in excess of the $125 million world-record fee United paid for Paul Pogba last summer is possible.

If Ronaldo truly wants to go, it could happen. United would pony up for the chance to become instantly relevant again, having finished between fourth and seventh over the last four EPL campaigns.

The relationsh­ip between United coach Jose Mourinho and Ronaldo, which soured during Mourinho’s ill-fated final season as Madrid boss, could be patched up without too much fuss.

Madrid could move on knowing it got the best years out of Ronaldo, landing three UEFA Champions League crowns during his time there. Even as Ronaldo stewed this last week, Madrid’s internal machinatio­ns were working on a plot to land the French wunderkind who could be his long-term successor, Kylian Mbappe.

The timing might even be seen as neat. Straightfo­rward, right? Not so much. That is because the true intentions behind all this are anyone’s guess. Of course, it is possible Ronaldo might really want to go. The tax situation might have irked him so deeply that getting out and moving on seems like the only appropriat­e course.

Or, like so many ultra-wealthy superstar athletes before him, he could be trying to manipulate a situation for his own benefit.

If it is all a ruse, which one is it?

Is it the money-grabbing variety, whereby Ronaldo wants to squeeze some more cash and a better deal out of his current team? It could be. With those back taxes and the reality that from this point forward his image rights income if he remains in Spain will be taxed at a more punitive rate, it is feasible he is looking for another bump in pay to help offset the difference.

Another possibilit­y is this is PR spin, cooked up by Ronaldo and his agent, Jorge Mendes, designed to take the focus away from what is going on in the legal channels. Ronaldo makes millions from a vast assortment of endorsemen­ts around the world, many of which rely on his image being unblemishe­d. What better to deflect attention from the tax case than by sparking a summer of conjecture about whether he will stay or go, where he might go and so on.

Perhaps it is a combinatio­n of the two, or perhaps Ronaldo, who has always been puzzled by the way Madrid fans have failed to warm to him despite his impressive on-field achievemen­ts, is looking for a little love and attention and to be told he is needed and wanted. That is one theory being put forward in the Spanish media, though, if so, it seems like an awful lot of trouble to go to in order to secure yourself a few metaphoric­al hugs.

Portugal is in Russia for the Confederat­ions Cup, which serves as the warm-up for next summer’s World Cup. By then, Ronaldo will still likely be among the best players in the world and undoubtedl­y remain its most famous. What club he will be with when he tries to take his national team to the title? We’ll have to wait and see on that, as there are plenty more episodes of the soap opera to run.

 ?? GLYN KIRK, AFP/GETTY IMAGES ?? Cristiano Ronaldo has helped Real Madrid win the UEFA Champions League title three times.
GLYN KIRK, AFP/GETTY IMAGES Cristiano Ronaldo has helped Real Madrid win the UEFA Champions League title three times.
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