Cristiano Ronaldo is sulking. The world's costliest player has placed his Real Madrid future in doubt after publicly revealing his unhappiness with the club. Despite scoring his 150th goal for Madrid on Sunday, Ronaldo refused to celebrate, sparking speculation regarding his current state of mind.
Ronaldo, whose £80million transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid in June 2009 remains the biggest in football history, has alerted a number of clubs worldwide. The likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United all want to bring star striker to bolster their squad.
The timing of Ronaldo's comments increased speculation that the Spanish champions' failure to keep him at the top of the wages league. Reportedly, he earns less than Wayne Rooney, Samuel Eto'o, Carlos Tevez, Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
According to the Madrid-based newspaper Marca, Ronaldo has told Perez that he does not feel wanted at the club. Ronaldo's antics are not new to football followers. While at Old Trafford, he infamously reacted to being substituted against City by throwing his tracksuit onto the floor and gave contradicting statements to the press.
While it would be simple to suggest that Ronaldo's relationship with Real is now at breaking point, very assume he will leave Real Madrid at this point of his career. The 27-year-old still has three years left on his contract, the buy out clause for which is €1 billion, so Real’s board members will be in no hurry to cash on him at this point of time.
But as soon as the news broke, City, his old club United and big spenders Chelsea and PSG were quickly linked with the former World Player of the Year. And if reports in England are to be believed, City are ready to launch an amazing world record £95 million bid for an unhappy Ronaldo. Real are sure to demand more than the price mentioned, so which club is the real favourite to get him?
The most likely outcome of course is that he stays in the Spanish capital and gets what he wants by holding Real’s board to ransom. United can be seen as the next favourite to get Ronaldo as he is still in touch with Sir Alex Ferguson and is friendly with most of the club’s players. But can United pay the amount? Certainly not. The market has really gone up in the last few years and we all know how Fergie does business. Though he might be tempted to bring him back, he certainly won't be paying over the odds.
Should Ronaldo wish to sever any ties he had with United, he could do so by joining arch-rivals Manchester City. The move would involve a huge number of players being shipped out of Eastlands to ensure City don't fall foul of the UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations. But if City’s interest is real there is no doubt they can match Real Madrid’s asking price, and then it would be down to the player to decide whether he wants to play for City.
Super-wealthy clubs such as PSG and Anzhi Makhachkala will no doubt be linked with Ronaldo in the coming weeks and months, but it’s highly unlikely that we will see him there, unless the move is all about money and not about football.
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