Cristiano Ronaldo ready to take his playing career to Brazil? I highly doubt it…
Flamengo president Rodolfo Landim has completely ruled out a move to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, even though it’s becoming clear that he won’t be extending his stay at Manchester United after tarnishing his relationship with Erik ten Hag this season.
Speaking to Papo Reto (via Record), Landim suggested that the Ronaldo transfer links were lies, and that he would be benched for Gabriel Barbosa anyhow.
Landim initially shut down the reports by questioning where they stemmed from (presumably clickbait journalism), saying: “I don’t know where it came from but they have a lot of creativity.
“First of all, I ask: For whose place? It’s to be on the bench. From what I’ve read on the internet, I don’t know if it’s true or not, he would have been offered $242m [£215m] for a two-year contract. Divided by 24 months, that’s about $10m a month.
“Talk about a value far above the entire salary sheet of Flamengo for Cristiano Ronaldo. To be Pedro or Gabigol’s substitute? I can’t…. Nobody here is going to go crazy things.
“The amateur time of managing, of thinking that in the future we’ll pay the bills, that no longer exists. There is no possibility of taking a step that is not firm.”
We can only agree with everything Landim says, and who are we to question the players he says are performing at a high level for Flamengo at a time Ronaldo is not scoring goals for United? On another note, we must remember that the Brazilian side failed to sign Andreas Pereira in the summer because they couldn’t afford his wages.
The problem for Ronaldo is that he hasn’t been linked to a lot of clubs and it remains to be seen if he will push for a move in January, like he did unsuccessfully in the summer despite help from agent Jorge Mendes.
There was also suggestions that the Glazers wanted to keep him, whereas I think Erik ten Hag would have preferred a new centre-forward. At least we know he would now.
