Real Madrid Reportedly Want To Cash In On Cristiano Ronaldo By Selling Him To China, Portuguese Forward Booed By Bernabeu Fans

Even though it was unconvincing, Real Madrid got back to winning ways on Saturday afternoon when they defeated Malaga 2-1. It was a hugely important victory for Zinedine Zidane’s side, too, as it came after their 40-match unbeaten run came to a screeching halt with successive losses against Sevilla and Celta Vigo.

The game didn’t proceed without controversy, though. That’s because Cristiano Ronaldo, the club’s record goalscorer who has been a talisman at the Bernabeu ever since he arrived in 2009, was booed by a section of the supporters after he missed some chances. In the end, Ronaldo didn’t get on the score sheet, as it was left to central defender Sergio Ramos to score Madrid’s two goals.

The boos directed towards Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday also provoked Zidane to tell the club’s fans to offer more support. After the game Zidane remarked, via the BBC,“Our fans are always very demanding, but sometimes the players and coaches need more affection. When we have difficulties, we need the fans to be calm and support the team.”

This marked a sour end to what has been a rather poor week for Cristiano Ronaldo. That’s because on top of Real Madrid’s two defeats, and Ronaldo’s inability to strike against Malaga, rumors have also emerged suggesting that the club and their president Florentino Perez actually want to sell Ronaldo.

The Spanish publication Don Balton, via The Sun, generated this speculation, as they suggested that Real Madrid and Perez want to take advantage of the recent transfer splurges in the Chinese Super League by cashing in on Cristiano Ronaldo. Perez allegedly wants to sell Ronaldo before his contract runs out in 2019 so that the club can make some of the £80 million ($100 million) that they spent on the player back in 2009.

The 31-year-old legend only signed a new five-year deal with Real Madrid last year, which immediately saw him start earning £365,000 ($450,000) a week. According to these reports, though, Perez doesn’t want to sell Cristiano Ronaldo immediately. In fact, Perez wants to get another season out of the mega-star before then selling him in 2018 to a Chinese club.

There’s every chance that Florentino Perez decided to proceed with his alleged idea to sell Cristiano Ronaldo after the player’s agent Jorge Mendes revealed at the end of last month that a club in China had bid to purchase Ronaldo for €300 million from Real Madrid.

Jorge Mendes told Sky Sports Italia,

“From China they’ve offered €300 million to Real Madrid and more than €100 million per year to the player.”

Jorge Mendes then quickly insisted that despite these riches Cristiano Ronaldo wasn’t interested in moving to the Chinese Super League. Mendes continued,

“But money is not everything. Real Madrid is his life. Cristiano is happy at Real Madrid and it is impossible to go to China. 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. He won the European Championship with Portugal, it’s like winning the Italian league with Genoa: they were not the favourite.”

Don Balon’s report suggested that there were some ulterior motives to Florentino Perez’s decision to sell Cristiano Ronaldo, too. Apparently Perez, who is currently in his eighth year of his second term as Real Madrid president having previously overseen the club between 2000-2006, is wary about the influence that Cristiano Ronaldo has in the dressing room, and is still angry at the Portuguese international for siding with Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos in a row several years ago. At the same time Perez now believes that Cristiano Ronaldo is past his best, and that the club needs to build their team around a new player.

[Featured Image by Denis Doyle/Getty Images]