Cristiano Ronaldo will play his last home league Clasico next Saturday with his slow divorce from Real Madrid coming to an inevitable conclusion next May.
That is the opinion of sources close to the Spanish club he joined in 2009 — and is a theory backed up by the fact that Real Madrid snubbed the London film premiere of the player’s film The Man last Monday.
Ronaldo goes into the game against Barcelona having failed to score in 12 of the 18 games he has played for club and country this season but the seeds of separation have more to do with the player’s relationship with the club than his form.
They are rooted in Real Madrid’s desire to cash in on a player who will be 31 by the end of the season but would still command a huge fee in the transfer market.
The first cracks appeared in the relationship at the end of last season when the player publicly called the club out for the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti.
Ronaldo tweeted: ‘Great coach and amazing person. Hope we work together next season’ along with a photograph of himself and Ancelotti before the sacking was confirmed.
Players and staff at the club already knew that Ancelotti would not be kept on and the tweet was seen as a clear message to the president who had decided to fire the Italian and hire Rafa Benitez.
If the club thought Ronaldo was taking them on over Benitez’ appointment, the player interpreted the new manager’s comments in much the same way when Benitez refused to say that he thought Ronaldo was the best player at the club or that he had trained.
Ronaldo’s relationship with Benitez is strained by footballing differences. The 55-year-old Spaniard has shown no intention of building the team around Ronaldo or playing the attacking football he thrives on. ‘We played too deep,’ said Ronaldo as he walked off the pitch after Real Madrid’s defeat last week against Sevilla. The comment was made to Sergio Ramos but it was directed at Benitez, whose team had looked to defend a 1-0 lead and lost 3-1.
Publicly Real have made to be upset by the doubts expressed by Ronaldo about his future but privately they are hopeful of recouping the £80m they paid for him six years ago. They want to rebuild and a Ronaldo windfall will help them do that. Ronaldo does not want to move to Qatar or MLS yet and believes he has another four years at the top in European football.
‘I want to finish with dignity,’ he said this week. As his relationship with Real becomes ever more difficult a dignified finale to an extraordinary career in European football looks like it will come easier to him if he leaves the club.– Daily Mail