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Reports of the four-time Ballon d'Or winner's desire to leave the Spanish champions first surfaced in the Portuguese daily A Bola.
Real's
all-time leading scorer, the newspaper said, no longer wanted to play
in Spain. He was, they said, angry at his treatment by Spanish tax
authorities.
For those new to the
story, here's the backdrop: on Tuesday, prosecutors in Spain accused the
player of defrauding Spanish authorities of $16.4 million in tax
between 2011 and 2014 and charged him with four crimes against the
public treasury.
The footballer
had, said prosecutors, used a "business structure" -- created in 2010 --
to hide the revenue generated by his image rights from the Spanish
treasury, describing the breach as "voluntary" and "conscious."
There was no attempt to evade taxes, Ronaldo's management company Gestifute said.
On
Wednesday, Real said it was "absolutely convinced" that their
32-year-old forward, who is on international duty with Portugal at the
Confederations Cup, would prove his "total innocence."
Ronaldo 'sad' and 'upset'
When contacted by CNN to provide comment on Friday's A Bola
story, Gestifute said they would not be making a statement and rejected
the chance to deny the story. Real also did not respond to requests for
comment.
Madrid-based newspaper Marca added ballast to A Bola's
initial morning report by saying that the rumors were true, while the
BBC later reported that a source close to the player had said Ronaldo
was "sad" and "upset" at being accused of tax fraud.
Could
he? Would Ronaldo really want to leave a club he had joined for a then
world-record fee of £80 million ($102m) in 2009? Don't forget this is a
player that is the very epitome of a Real "galactico."
But
this is not the first time Ronaldo -- the world's highest-paid sports
star, according to Forbes -- has been linked with a move away from the
Bernabeu.
Before he put pen to
paper on a five-year deal with Real in November 2016, there was the
usual gossip of the player returning to former club Manchester United,
or joining the Chinese Super League.
The
mid-season transfer window opens in China Monday, but would a man who
has scored 600 career goals -- named man of the match as he scored twice
in this month's Champions League final -- play in a league widely
considered to be of a lower standard than Europe's top leagues?
Maybe
money does indeed talk, even for a man who, according to Forbes, earned
$93m over the last 12 months, with his salary accounting for $58m and
endorsements $35m.
A return to Manchester United, for whom he scored 84 goals in 196 Premier League appearances, has also been mooted.
Cristiano Ronaldo will play for Portugal at this month's Confederations Cup.
Ultimate ambition?
Marca
say Real is willing to sell -- but at a price. A cool £160m. Whatever
the exact cost, a Ronaldo transfer would only happen for a mind-boggling
sum.
Only few could afford a
player of such caliber, a four-time Champions League winner, the
competition's record goalscorer, a man who led Portugal to Euro 2016
glory last summer.
And he is as
valuable off the pitch as his goals are on it. No-one on the planet has
as many Facebook followers as the Portuguese (122 million) and he has
the biggest social media following of any sports star on the planet.
Illustrating
his worth to the world's biggest brands, Nike agreed a lifetime deal
with the player in 2016, reportedly worth as much as a $1billion.
And
so we come back to money. Is this another episode of a player and his
agent maneuvering and plotting, their ultimate ambition being more
dollars on the pay check, perchance to wipe out an impending tax bill?
Pepe and Ronaldo take part in a training session in Kazan.
#FridayFeeling
Whether Ronaldo ultimately leaves Real or not, at least Friday was another occasion where social media came to the fore.
Bundesliga
side Hertha Berlin tried its luck with a cheeky tweet. "No cash, but
galactic challenge and Berlin will love you like a son," the club
tweeted.
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