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What is behind Ronaldo's promise to stay at Madrid till the end of his contract?

What is behind Ronaldo's promise to stay at Madrid till the end of his contract?

We are at that time of the year where the flirting that took place in the previous months becomes eventually a date. In football terms I mean. At this stage of the season, players and clubs convert the talking about future interest in offers that have to be accepted or negotiated. Eventually, when the player has been fully seduced, clubs will have to reach an agreement on a fee. That is how it works.


Cristiano Ronaldo is no exception, of course. Where are we now about his future? He announced upon receiving the Pichichi award just why he would be staying at Real Madrid. And while not exactly swearing an undying love for the club he made it more than clear that he intended to see out his contract at the Santiago Bernabeu

“I want to stay here for two more years, and then we’ll see about the future. That’s the contract that I’ve got,“ he said.

"Now what I have to do is try to win trophies and the Champions League once again.

"I’ve spent seven years in Spain and for me La Liga is the best in the world.

"I also spent six years in England, in Manchester, and this league is wonderful, very competitive, with great players and, for me, it’s a privilege to be here and to leave my mark, which has been very good.”

What he didn’t say is that for both him and the club this is not so much a match made in heaven, rather a ‘marriage of convenience’.

In the words of the journalist and author, Mignon McLaughlin, “The head never rules the heart but just becomes its partner in crime.”

The truth is that there has been a strategy in place for some time from both sides to end Cristiano’s association with Real Madrid next summer. Jorge Mendes has talked to PSG and others about a future away from Madrid, and the president of Real, Florentino Perez, expected offers to arrive for the Portuguese which would help him recycle the side before the ban for two transfer windows.

Whether he wants to leave more than Madrid want him to go is actually irrelevant. He is now saying he is staying and, if eventually that is what will happen, there are a number of reasons for that and it probably won’t come as a huge surprise that one of them is money.

But that is far from being the only factor.

The MLS wants him as does the new, seemingly cash resplendent, Chinese league. Unfortunately it’s too early for the former and he doesn’t fancy the latter at the moment and, in any case, his plan was always to join another top European club.

Enter PSG, who, along with a select number of clubs seem to have more money than a horse has hairs, and who by some stroke of good fortune were pitted against Real in the group stages of the Champions League.

As he embraced PSG’s Laurent Blanc at the end of his side’s 1-0 win over the French side according to Le Parisien he is alleged to have said to the coach, “Your team plays really well, I would love to work with you,” which is kind of football-speak for “you dancing?” “you asking?”

There was also apparently a coquettish wink in the general direction of the very, very wealthy PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi, not the first time incidentally that a Ronaldo wink has sparked off all manner of rumours and column inches.

One thing led to another and Cristiano has gone out to dinner with him, while matchmaker in chief, Jorge Mendes has also attempted to broker a union only for the club to stop short of offering one of those offers that cannot be refused. Why?

The problem is that while PSG, in a shameful display of flirting, have been metaphorically rubbing knees under the table with Ronaldo and Co, one of the main sticking points has been the size of the ‘dowry’.

PSG, or whoever wants to hitch up to Ronaldo, would have to put an initial 60 to 70 million euros on the table and then a wage packet of 20 million euros per annum, net of tax, with no possibility of seeing a financial return on their investment.

Frankly, the numbers do not add up, and privately the PSG Chairman has said as much; and he’s absolutely right.

So Real and even Ronaldo would have to reduce drastically their demands for a possible negotiation to start.


And his form would need to improve.


What we are seeing now is a Ronaldo that has not scored in 48% of the games he has played this season and the 25 goals scored in 24 games in the first half of the season flatter to deceive.

His goals up until the second round of La Liga matches came against just 10 clubs. In all of the big games against the top clubs, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Villarreal he has failed to score. Of his 25 goals, 16 came against just three sides, namely Espanyol, Shakthar Donetsk and Malmo.

Last season he scored 38 goals in the first half of the season admittedly over 32 games but more significantly scored against most of the top clubs that season namely Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, Villarreal.

They have also seen that he has a chronic knee problem which means he now takes less free kicks, has lost pace, and is a player who, physically, has peaked.

His influence in the big games has gone and PSG know it and what is more so do Real Madrid. The truth is that nobody in Europe wants him at that sort of money, and despite what his present club might be saying publicly, nor do they if they can get the right amount of money.

His contract lasts for another two years and club president, Florentino Perez has something of a moral obligation to keep him there; and here’s why.

When Rafa Benitez was sacked there was talk of a player conspiracy to get rid of the coach. In truth, the man mainly behind the demise of Rafa was Perez himself.

Benitez wanted to play those players that would do the job, while Perez wanted him to play the superstars, however fit or suitable they happened to be. He did as his President wanted in the match against Barcelona and what followed was an embarrassing thumping.

It’s uncertain whether or not not Rafa told his boss “told you so” but Perez was forced to concede that Benitez had been right all along.

But being right at the Bernabeu was never going to be enough for Benitez and anyone that might have thought that El Presidente was about to be bettered so easily by a mere coach doesn’t even begin to understand the nature of the beast.

What he and the players wanted was someone like Zinadine Zidane at the helm because he knew that the tactically naïve Frenchman would dance to the President’s tune and pick the stars, while the players knew that under that regime they could basically do and play exactly as they wished.

Perez spoke to the leaders of both of the dressing room camps (Sergio Ramos and Ronaldo) and told them, get the dressing room sorted out, and we’ll all get what we want.

Which is precisely what happened. Out went Benitez, in came Zidane and now a state of ‘self-government’ reigns in the Santiago Bernabeu home dressing room.

There is also the small matter of a potential two-window transfer ban for alleged illegal practices in the bringing of young players into the club, currently suspended while being appealed, but hanging over the club’s head like the sword of Damocles, which makes the decision to keep Cristiano one that is almost forced on the club -Real would enter as the weak party any transfer negotiations as clearly it is their last chance to recoup of sizeable fee for the player close to what they invested.

But make no bones about it; were none of these factors in place Ronaldo would not be staying.

And what of Manchester United, I hear you ask? The fans definitely want him although I’m fairly sure his present plight will not have escaped the attention of the movers and shakers in the Theatre of Dreams.

Unless of course you have just returned from another galaxy, you’ll be aware that there is much talk about Jose Mourinho replacing Louis Van Gaal at Old Trafford.

But let’s be clear about this. That’s all there has been to date; talk; tittle-tattle; gossip. And despite the fact that Mourinho is gagging for the job, there is as yet NO agreement in place between himself and Manchester United.

That isn’t to say that he won’t eventually get the job, but if he does – and here’s the rub – one player that definitely won’t be joining Manchester United will be Ronaldo who has made it abundantly clear that he does not want to play for the Portuguese coach again.

So Ronaldo is, barring a miracle, staying put, living proof that, once again, in the words of Mignon McLaughlin, “A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.”