Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Manchester United is still up in the air after months of speculation, with the 37-year-old enduring a tough start to the season as a result.
He was left out of the starting eleven for the first game against Brighton and after being reinstated for the following back, he was once again dropped for the win against Liverpool earlier this week.
Ronaldo has been heavily linked with a move to Chelsea but a transfer has not materialised and with just days remaining of the window, staying at Old Trafford is looking like an increasingly realistic outcome.
There is, however, an update from Italian transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio. As per the report, Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is trying in ‘every way’ of avoiding a scenario where his client has to play in the Europa League.
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Mendes is desperately trying to engineer a transfer and currently, Italian giants Napoli are the focus. It’s claimed that discussions between the club and Mendes have resumed recently after initial talks earlier this month.
Mendes has offered Ronaldo to the club but due to the volume of attacking options signed this summer, exits are required. Victor Osimhen, the Nigeria star, is one player Ronaldo could replace. It’s also claimed that there is a possibility that Ronaldo joins Napoli and Osimhen joins United.
SN’s verdict…
Clearly, Ronaldo wants to play in the Champions League and at 37, he’ll feel that he cannot afford to miss one season out of Europe’s fine dining table.
As things stand, he’s 15 goals ahead of Lionel Messi in the tournament’s all-time goalscoring charts and the Argentinian is two years his junior.
For United, it would make sense to let Ronaldo leave and Ten Hag would be spared the headache. A replacement must, however, be signed. Anthony Martial has already missed two of the opening three games and has been ruled out of the fourth game against Southampton.
Osimhen is valued at £58.50, million and Ronaldo is valued at £27.00, million per Transfermarkt, a difference of £31.50 million.
However, CIES Observatory values Osimhen at between 50 and 70, million Euro’s, whilst Ronaldo is valued at between 10 and 15 million Euro’s, a difference of between 40 and 55 million Euro’s. With the Euro the equivalent of approx. 85 pence this would give a difference in values of between £34.00, million and £46.75, million.
These values never really have much bearing on what is actually paid. However, for a deal to be done, if United paid Napoli £60, million + Ronaldo, it would be for Ronaldo to negotiate his own reduced contract to suit the pocket of Napoli, rather than rely on United to subsidise his wages for a loan (after all, he is the one who wants to leave!)