This would probably not go down well on the red side of Manchester
What an utterly ridiculous transfer window this is turning out to be. Lionel Messi has moved clubs for the first time ever, Harry Kane has tried and failed to leave Tottenham, Kylian Mbappé wants to join Real Madrid, and now it looks like Cristiano Ronaldo could actually join Manchester City.
Links between Ronaldo and City originated in French newspaper L’Equipe, before Italian media corroborated the story, and now multiple reputable outlets are reporting a genuine possibility that the 36-year-old could line up under Pep Guardiola this season.
Juventus signed Ronaldo in 2018 in a bid to get them over that final hurdle and win the Champions League. It didn’t work. And now, they are keen to get the forward off the books in order to save around £500k per week that he earns before tax.
That staggeringly high wage has made it tricky for Ronaldo and Juventus to find a club willing to take him off their hands this summer, but with the Harry Kane rumours dead in the water, he might just be the short term solution they need.
Sky Italy are reporting that City, who desperately want an out and out striker, would be willing to pay Ronaldo £12.8m-per-season, just over a third of what he earns in Italy.
But the Premier League champions only want to sign him on a free transfer, attempting to leverage Juventus’ desperation to offload the player. Juve, meanwhile, are asking for a fee in the region of €25 million which, all things considered, is not a lot of money to Man City, even if he is 36.
This would cause a civil war pic.twitter.com/GrszPK73bX
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) August 25, 2021
What’s certain is that Ronaldo joining City would absolutely rattle Manchester United fans up and down the country. The Portuguese is still hugely admired by United fans after his glittering success at Old Trafford in the mid-to-late noughties, but Ronaldo’s tunnel vision determination to maximise his career would almost certainly not stop him joining their local rivals.
Imagine the quantity of goals Ronaldo would score just standing on the penalty spot at the Etihad waiting for cut-backs, and it should be no surprise that a move to Pep Guardiola’s side appeals to everyone involved.
