Clubs rejected chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United even on vastly reduced wages
Multiple clubs had the chance to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United and pay him just £80,000-a-week, but refused the opportunity to do so.
The 37-year-old has now left Old Trafford with his contract terminated by mutual consent as the relationship between club and player completely broke down.
It was clear over the summer that Ronaldo wanted to leave the club, but a move did not materialise and manager Erik ten Hag did use him in the first team, but not as much as the forward would have liked.
Having become increasingly frustrated by sitting on the bench, Ronaldo engineered a headline-grabbing interview with Piers Morgan slamming the club and Ten Hag, which ultimately led to his exit.
The Athletic report that Ten Hag was happy for Ronaldo to leave before the close of the summer transfer window, following the memorable 4-0 defeat to Brentford in the Premier League in August.
United were paying the Portuguese superstar around £450,000-a-week and they were happy to pay a percentage of his wages if any club were willing to take him on, and it was a club he was willing to join.
However, the report states that multiple clubs were not interested in signing the striker even given the opportunity to pay him just £80,000-a-week.
Ronaldo was offered much more than that, rejecting the chance to move to Saudi Arabia on a contract worth £300m.
Reports have suggested that he has now changed his mind and agreed a move to Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr, however, Ronaldo has denied this during Portugal’s World Cup campaign.
As yet he still remains without a club, but will be focussing on Portugal as they take on Morocco in the World Cup quarter-final at 3pm on Saturday.
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