Cristiano Ronaldo has said his goodbyes to his Juventus team-mates at the club’s Continassa training ground, before they started training without him, according to local reports in the Italian news media.
This development took place against the backdrop of the 36-year-old Portugal captain’s potential move to Manchester City as his agent Jorge Mendes reportedly was in transfer talks with the club.
Ronaldo is in the final year of his contract at Juventus and the Turin giants reportedlt have a ?25m transfer fee for the Portuguese legend. Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid in 2018 for a fee in the region of ?105m and scored 101 goals in 134 games for the club, helping them to lift two Serie A titles along the way.
Ronaldo in his final season with Manchester United in 2009, playing in an English Premier League game against Liverpool. Wikimedia Commons.
While a valuable addition to any team as one of the most prolific goalscorers of all time, Ronaldo is not exactly walking in at any club of his chooosing, as his high transfer fee and almost ?500,000-per-week wages at the Allianz Stadium for example might make for some difficult financial decision for most clubs.
While Juventus are yet to receive an official bid for Ronaldo, there is still some way to go before things are confirmed before Tuesday’s transfer window deadline in what has been a significant transfer period, with French superstar Kylian Mbappe purportedly moving to Real Madrid from
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), as Ronaldo’s great rival Lionel Messi joined the French giants himself, in a much publicised move from Barcelona.
With PSG being paired with Manchester City in Group A of this season’s competition, were Ronaldo to indeed move to Manchester City,
Lionel Messi may just come face-to-face with his old rival again in a blockbuster Champions League clash.
