CELEBRITY
Massive pay cut for Manchester United – bound Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly agreed a £6m pay cut to join Manchester United as details of his salary emerged.
According to UK’s Mirror, the Portuguese superstar will nevertheless be the highest-paid player at United, on a staggering £385,000-per-week.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have made one of the most sensational moves of the transfer window, with the imminent signing of Ronaldo rivalling PSG’s capture of Lionel Messi.
The Red Devils announced on Friday they had reached an agreement for the Juventus forward to return to Old Trafford.
Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes set his client’s wage demands at £20m per year, according to the Mail on Sunday.
The publication says super agent Mendes slashed the 36-year-old’s pay requirements in order to secure a move before Tuesday’s transfer deadline.
Ronaldo had entered the final 12 months of his Juve contract – believed to be worth £500,000 a week, which equates to £26m per year.
So the forward appears to have sacrificed £6m in potential earnings to return to the club where established himself as a world-class talent, winning three Premier League titles, the Club World Cup and the first of his five Champions League triumphs.
He will still be the Red Devils’ top earner ahead of goalkeeper David de Gea, who earns £375,000-per-week according to Spotrac.
United appear to have pulled off a coup by landing Ronaldo from under the noses of Manchester City, after he was also linked with a move to PSG.
But Gary Neville stands by his prediction that his former club will finish third this season despite signing the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.
“No one can complain at Manchester United about the players they’ve signed this summer,” he said on Sky Sports, with Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane having also joined the Red Devils.
“I made the predictions that it would be Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United – I’m not going to change that because of the signing of Ronaldo.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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