Cristiano Ronaldo may well be best advised offering to forgo the £18million he is set to earn in the final year of his Manchester United contract if he is to be granted his wish of an Old Trafford escape this summer. A number of exit strategies have been explored by the Portuguese superstar’s agent Jorge Mendes in order to facilitate an immediate departure from United, but a mega-money goodwill gesture may be the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s best bet going forward.
Alongside Mendes, the 37-year-old returned to United’s Carrington training complex on Tuesday for the first time since the end of last season to engage in crisis talks over his future with the club’s chief executive officer Richard Arnold and manager Erik ten Hag. Ronaldo is understood to have reasserted his desire to depart the Red Devils this summer in order to secure a move to a club who are able to offer Champions League football next term.
The Portugal captain has so far been left frustrated in his attempts to leave United, having suffered a number of humiliating snubs. Chelsea have distanced themselves from signing Ronaldo this summer, while both Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid have publicly poured cold water on claims they could move for the striker.
Ronaldo himself is said to have rejected a mega-move move to Saudi Arabia while talk of a transfer to the MLS is also thought to have been dismissed. With his options thinning, there have been suggestions the forward could indeed stay put, however it seems the player will do all he can to instigate an escape over the next month or so.
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During Tuesday’s meeting, Mendes is thought to have put forward a number of proposals to United in order to negotiate Ronaldo’s exit. A potential loan move away, which would additionally include a one-year contract extension, was believed to have been touted, along with the possibility of United terminating the striker’s contract a year early.
It is thought both suggestions were dismissed by United who remain adamant the iconic No 7 will be going nowhere this summer, and very much remains part of Ten Hag’s plans. While the cancellation of the famed forward’s contract is likely to leave United with an enormous pay-off on their hands, Ronaldo may be better advised volunteering to wipe off the money he will be owed as a goodwill gesture.
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On reported wages in the region of £360,000 per week, the striker stands to earn a further £18.7m over the course of the second half of the two-year deal he signed upon rejoining the Red Devils last summer. Should Ronaldo willingly cede such funds, United may be more inclined to grant him his wish of departing a year earlier than provisionally planned.
The decision may also allow Ronaldo to preserve what’s left of his tainted legacy as opposed to leaving under a cloud. Whatever twist the transfer saga takes next, there can be no denying unrepairable damage has already been done.
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