With every passing week, more and more top players are joining the Chinese Super League, purely with the motivation of earning loads of money. The amount of money the Chinese clubs are offering can surely turn the head of any professional footballer — of course, if you are not Cristiano Ronaldo.
Jorge Mendes, Ronaldo’s agent has claimed that the Portugal skipper has rejected a €300m deal from an un-named Chinese club, who were ready to offer him more than €100m a year in wages.
Jorge Mendes a @SkySport: “El Real Madrid tiene una oferta de China de 300 millones de € por Cristiano y más de 100 de ficha anual”. pic.twitter.com/gNRFpNzaLE
— El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) December 29, 2016
Every player has a price. For Ronaldo, the four times Ballon d’Or winner, it is obviously higher. Even then, the amount quoted here is ridiculous. The transfer offer, if genuine, would equate to more than three times of what Manchester United paid for Paul Pogba, which was a record-breaking signing, in August.
Ronaldo, 31, has won everything in club football. He has won league titles and the Champions League with both Manchester United and Real Madrid. He is one of the world’s greatest players to have ever graced the beautiful game, and does not need to prove anything to anyone. He could have easily taken a safe route to China, enjoyed the weather and food, and pocketed more than two times what he currently earns at Real Madrid. But Ronaldo is no Oscar. Ronaldo is no Carlos Tevez.
Mendes told Sky Sports Italia, as quoted by the Guardian:
Money is not everything; the Spanish club is his life. The Chinese market is a new market. They can buy a lot of players, but then again it is impossible to go for Ronaldo. Cristiano is the best player in the world and best ever. It is normal to have some offers.
Mendes is right. Ronaldo may have been a very successful player, but he always yearns for perfection and still has the hunger to compete with the best. He wants to keep on winning titles and performing at a top level in a competitive league.
Ronaldo would love to continue at Real Madrid until the end of his career, but there is also a possibility that he might join his former club, Manchester United, in the near future. He has said multiple times that he would love to return to Old Trafford someday, and that Manchester United is close to his heart. One can safely assume that Ronaldo would end his career either at Madrid or at United, but he would never move to China.
In an era where players are mere pawns of football agents, who are always in the lookout for the best financial deals around, Ronaldo has proved once again that money is not everything for him.
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