Once again, Cristiano Ronaldo is being linked with a move away from Real Madrid.
This time, however, there seems to be far, far too much smoke for there to be no fire.
Reports from numerous outlets across Europe suggest Ronaldo is closing in on a move to Juventus, bringing down the curtain on a nine-year stint at the Bernabeu. Real are thought to be open to letting the 33-year-old depart, with the Paris Saint-Germain duo of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar both seen as potential replacements.
Former Juve CEO Luciano Moggi has gone on record saying he believes Ronaldo has already signed for the Italian champions having completed medicals for the club in Munich. It’s been claimed elsewhere an announcement will be made on Saturday.
Ronaldo’s long-time agent, Jorge Mendes, will undoubtedly know more than most about how close to a move his client actually is. Speaking to Portuguese newspaper Record on Thursday, he refused to rule out the transfer, instead choosing to talk about how grateful the former Manchester United forward would be to the Spanish club if he does depart for Turin.
“If that happens it will be just a new stage and a new challenge in his brilliant career,” he said.
“If Cristiano Ronaldo leaves Real Madrid he will remain eternally grateful to the club, the president, all the management, all the medical personnel, all the officials without exception, the Adepts and all the Madridistas scattered around the world.”
Not the kind of comments you’d expect from the agent of a player who was expecting to stay put.
Ronaldo arrived in Madrid in 2009 for a then-world record fee of £80m. Juventus are said to be willing to pay more £8m more than that fee to bring him to Italy, although it’s also claimed they may have to sell at least one of their current squad to help fund the move.
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