Cristiano Ronaldo is not a unique player and his comment on £170m Saudi Arabia deal reeks of conceit, says Karren Brady
IN Saudi Arabia, they are enjoying Ronaldo’s Last Adventure.
And how can this latter-day Robinson Crusoe fail to like his pay packet reportedly worth north of £3million a week?
A little research will tell you that this sum equates to the earnings of Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Kevin De Bruyne combined.
Which rather points to the fact that Ronaldo’s new club have more money than they know what to do with!
Ronaldo’s £170m annually is seven times De Bruyne’s figure, which might imply he’s seven times a better player — but it doesn’t and he isn’t.
The Portuguese is at the supernova stage in which he emits a final blast of eye-aching brightness before subsiding into a post- football afterlife.
READ MORE IN FOOTBALL
Any chance of a reputation to match those of Pele or Messi appear to be gone.
Pele was at one club, Santos, for nearly 20 years and earned three World Cup-winning medals.
Messi has one of those but also has seven Ballon d’Or awards to Ronaldo’s five.
And, with an eighth close thanks to Argentina’s Qatar victory, there must be a real possibility of Middle East fortunes for him as well, as his light begins to dim too.
Most read in Football
HOW TO GET FREE BETS ON FOOTBALL
The side issue of these huge sums is what they are doing to football.
It still hangs on to its reputation as a working man’s game: a woman’s too!
But the driving force of wages is spurring the creation of haves and have-nots among clubs.
Chelsea have spent £420m-plus on players this season in an effort to return to the Premier League’s top six.
The growing divide is all but unbreachable for many even in the top flight — never mind in the EFL — leading to a growing drain-off of the better players and a lack of competition, which will sooner or later result in a fall in attendances.
There is a cliff edge forming below the top six clubs in the Premier League, boosted by the Champion League’s millions . . . and the rest.
But back to Ronaldo — while the 37-year-old player remains a jumping jack in his bid for headed goals, last season saw a slowing down of reactions and pace, marginal perhaps but enough to limit his supreme effectiveness.
Not that he saw it this way. He wished to remain the exception, the world famous one who, it appears, thought he could break the rules and defy Erik ten Hag at Manchester United — adding an insulting TV interview to the damage.
The manager won and Ronaldo was out.
Jorge Mendes, his agent and close friend, did not approve of the interview because it would put off leading clubs — no manager likes a diva.
He was right and it did. So off he went (without his agent, Mendes) to Al Nassr.
Maybe there’s a lot to like about Ronaldo.
He’s athletic and an unstoppable goalscorer. But this recent comment reeks of conceit: “I’m happy, proud to join Al Nassr . . . This contract is unique because I am a unique player. It’s normal for me.”
For a start he isn’t a unique player. He does most things well and some brilliantly but nothing others can’t or haven’t.
Neither Messi nor Pele would say anything like this.
And nudging at Ronaldo all the time is his obsession with Messi, whose career at Barcelona was at least the equal of his at Real Madrid.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Imagine his indignation at being benched in Portugal’s Qatar campaign — compared with Messi’s wonders.
Worse, how would he live with Messi going to the Middle East and earning more than £170m a year? It’s a real possibility.