Once again, we get to that time again when Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t too happy with the contract offered to him, and Real Madrid are forced to at least consider selling the most expensive footballer in the world, according to certain sources and rumors.
This time? El Pais is reporting that the new contract offer, worth €15 million a season and runs till 2018, pretty much leaving Ronaldo with the club till the end of his career or the final years of his best form at least, isn’t to the liking of Ronaldo and his super-agent Jorge Mendes. Once again, the rift and the gulf between the demands is so big, the Real Madrid might be forced to sell Ronaldo this summer.
There’s no actual rush – Ronaldo’s current contract runs till 2015, so there is time to make the decision with a little bit more thought into it, but while Ronaldo seems to be happy and scoring again, what happens behind the scenes might be a bit different from what we see on the pitch.
And once again comes the question – if Ronaldo is looking for that one huge contract that even Real Madrid can’t offer him, what club can? How much is he actually looking to make, and is succeeding with Real Madrid no longer one of his goals? Surely, one league title and one Spanish cup isn’t considered a great success for him, the man who says he doesn’t care about individual awards but about what he wins with his teams?
There are clubs that might be able to offer Ronaldo an even bigger salary, something around €20 million a season. Anzhi in Russia are an option, but that is a bit of career suicide, unless they win the league title and become a regular force in the Champions League, before we even get into the whole financial fair play issue. Paris Saint-Germain obviously could be another destination, able to pay the €100 million transfer fee (is it going to be that high). Manchester City are also a possibility, but the FFP can be an issue. Zenit in Russia also come to mind as a possibility.
Is this really going to happen? You can never tell. Trying to read Ronaldo’s behavior and comments through the media doesn’t do much good, as it seems his and Mendes’ behavior behind the scenes and away from the cameras is what really counts. It’s not a crime to leave Real Madrid, and it’s not a crime to want more money if you know you can get it, but at some point, not being truthful about your reasons and actually flip-flopping your career for the sake of a few more millions isn’t the wisest of choices.