In the latest transfer news, Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid is apparently something which could happen. Seriously.
Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has even said so.
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An initial report from El Chiringuito suggested that Ronaldo, 36, is keen to return to Real after moving to Juventus in 2018. Marca state that Real Madrid would be happy to bring him back to the Santiago Bernabeu and other reports suggest Juve are keen to get a transfer fee this summer before the superstar is out of contract in 2022.
With Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane hardly quashing the reports, let’s dig a bit deeper on this...
What has Zidane said about a return for Ronaldo?
Previously, Zidane smiled and waxed lyrical when asked about Ronaldo, and who can blame him?
He then said this to our partners at Sky in Italy: “Rumours about Ronaldo’s return to Real Madrid are true? Yes, it could be... we know Cristiano but he’s a Juve player now, and we have to honour this, he’s playing for another club. Now let us see what the future will be.”
Zizou, you rascal.
The Portuguese forward will go down as one of the greatest players in Real Madrid history, if not the best ever, and his legendary status is intact. A return wouldn’t impact that, but it would be fun.
The key thing here: if Ronaldo returns, does that mean captain and fellow legend Sergio Ramos will sign a new contract? Do Real have the funds to bring the superstar back? Or keep all of their star players?
Maybe the likes of Eden Hazard, who has a nightmare time with injuries, will move on to make space for a sensational return for Ronaldo.
It seems like Juve are keen to move Ronaldo on, and Real are one of the few teams who could afford his wages.
Ronaldo left Real Madrid just before Zidane was fired and now he’s back in charge, perhaps we will get a few more years of a return to the true Galactico era?
Time for Ronaldo to leave Juventus?
After winning back-to-back Serie A titles, Ronaldo has failed to help Juve win the Champions League during his three-season stay in Turin as they’ve been dumped out of the competition without getting past the quarterfinal stage.
He has one more year left on his huge contract at Juve but there is a lot of talk that Andrea Pirlo wants to build a new-look team around younger players and the Italian giants would be keen to move on Ronaldo’s huge wages.
Overall, he’s scored 92 goals in 121 appearances for Juve in all competitions, which is still incredible, but not leading them to the Champions League title will be seen as a failure.