£350M
That’s how much you’ll have to pay to sign Ronaldo, insist Real Madrid
REAL MADRID say it would take at least a £350million deal to let Cristiano Ronaldo leave the club, which they expect to deter even Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United from trying to sign him.
The former United player, unhappy at the Bernabeu because of a perceived lack of support over his battle with Spanish tax authorities, unfair press and the jeering he has received from some Real fans, signed a new five-year deal with the Champions League winners only last November on £350,000-a-week net.
His buy-out clause is set at an eyewatering €1,000m or £870m and though clearly no club, not even in China, could meet that, the Spanish newspaper with the closest links to Perez, Marca, is reporting that it would take £350m for the Real to even to consider letting Ronaldo go.
That breaks down to £175m in a transfer fee and £175m in wages over the four remaining years of his deal, for which the Madrid club would expect to be compensated given that the 32-year-old would have breached his contract.
Real have reacted calmly to the briefing from his advisors that their star player wants to go and his decision is ‘irreversible.’ They will not attempt to soothe him by phone over the next two weeks when he is playing for Portugal at the Confederations Cup in Russia. Marca have reported the club plan a meeting in person between club president Florentino Perez, managing director Jose Angel Sanchez and Ronaldo in a fortnight.
If the player persists with his demand to leave, after he was accused by Spanish prosecutors of owing £12.9m in tax on image rights which were housed offshore in the British Virgin Island and the Republic of Ireland, it is clear Perez has a strong hand to play in forthcoming talks.
Given that Ronaldo’s advisors have made it clear he doesn’t fancy China, Real have surmised only Paris St Germain and United, who sold him to Real in 2009 for £80m, appear the only realistic suitors.
However, although Ronaldo has proved his worth this season and is likely to win the FIFA World Player of the Year for a fifth time, having won both La Liga and the Champions League, he can no longer play with the intensity of his youth.
That said, his marketability grows with age and United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has been desperate to sign players with the image that drives United’s brand, which contributed to their £100m pursuit of Paul Pogba last season.