Spanish La Liga giants Atletico Madrid are not interested in buying Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United because the deal would not be “economically sustainable.”
The 37-year-old professional forward reportedly wants to join Diego Simeone at Atletico to maintain his chances of taking home a sixth Champions League trophy.
Ronaldo has been trying to leave Old Trafford this summer according to reports because Man United will compete in the Europa League this time around after finishing sixth in the Premier League last year. He does not want to compete in Europe’s second-tier league after enjoying such an illustrious career.
If Ronaldo had joined Atletico, there would have been a lot of debate over his loyalty to his current and former clubs especially Real Madrid, Atletico’s arch-rivals. The Portuguese international, who holds the Real Madrid record for goals scored with 450, is reportedly trying his best to abandon United, a team that ought to be near to his heart.
According to Spanish source Marca, Atletico cannot pay Ronaldo’s salary, which was £480,000 per week last season. With one year remaining on his contract, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner will almost probably have to accept a wage cut if he wants to leave United before his contract expires.
As long as manager Simeone admires the player and needs more firepower from his front line, there will probably be links between Ronaldo and Atletico.
Only two Atletico players exceeded the 10-goal threshold last season, and none of them went over the 15-goal mark.
Ronaldo would undoubtedly help Atletico’s attack score goals. For club and country, he has scored more than 800 goals at the top level, including 18 in the Premier League last season.
🚨 Atlético Madrid cannot afford to sign Cristiano Ronaldo right now.
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) July 18, 2022
They need to make more than €40m in sales before they can even think about CR7.
(Source: @Manu_Sainz) pic.twitter.com/Y2xbp6tmzZ
However, Atletico already has five strikers on their team, among them Joao Felix, Antoine Griezmann, and Angel Correa. Before a Ronaldo transfer can be seriously considered, the La Liga contenders will need to sell players to make a place for him. As long as he is associated with Bayern Munich, Ronaldo might also end up in Germany.
The recent sale of Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona by the Bundesliga winners may give Ronaldo another chance to win the Champions League.
However, Bayern Munich’s CEO Oliver Khan has denied the move by saying. “I love Cristiano Ronaldo, [he’s a] fantastic player but every club has a philosophy and I’m not sure if it would be the right signal for Bayern and Bundesliga if we signed him now.”
Manchester United’s new head coach Erik Ten Hag stated earlier this month that Ronaldo was not up for sale.
Hence, as it stands, it is unknown when the forward will rejoin his teammates after missing the club’s pre-season tour to Thailand and Australia. The star player is exercising alone in Portugal, in preparation for the upcoming campaign.
