Ronaldo's move from Man United to Spanish giants Real Madrid sets a new world record. A ‘real’ buy indeed!. It reflects and tells you about how ‘sport’ is being played or being manipulated nowadays., not on the football fields or courts or golf course sbut rather elsewhere. I am sure, in Madrid, fans (children especially), has already started buying and wearing Ronaldo’s T-shirts. Other merchandise such as boots, socks, shorts or even under garments bearing Ronaldo's name would be the ‘hot’ items. When Beckham joined Real Madrid, Real Madrid jersey number 23 was seen almost every where in Madrid. Not so sure whether Man United has that ‘hero’ and iconic figure right now in their team. Nobody in the present line out has that kind of ‘attention’ - the one that Beckham or Ronaldo or even Cantona has, to fill up Man United coffers the way the three players did. Rooney, Ferdinand, Carrick, Fletcher or even Giggs nor the 'target signing of Franck Ribery have such a ‘superstar’ image as Ronaldo or Bechkam.Despite all the attention, Ronaldo has been warned his career will spin into freefall if he gets caught up in the glitz and glamour of Madrid by Queiroz - the coach who enjoyed two spells as assistant to Fergusson at United. He said: "I have my opinion about my wish regarding the career of Cristiano - and I think Manchester United was the right club for him. There were a lot of compromises and deals away from the pitch. When the club is huge and you put together players like Figo, Zidane, and Roberto Carlos, the challenge is huge!"
Obviously the reason why Real Madrid signed Ronaldo, apart from his footballing skills, has got something to do with marketing reasons and those connected to fashion and television appearances. At Real Madrid, these things can happen very easily.
Even Sepp Blatter has backed Cristiano Ronaldo's £80million move to Real Madrid, claiming: He is football's Picasso. But the real winner will be the 24-year-old Portuguese goal ace. 'I have had my time at Manchester United. It's time to look forward and 80 million is quite a sum of money. The deal is historic'. Of course its flattering when two of the top teams in the world want you to play for them. Ronaldo will be paid about £225,000 a week - meaning his basic earnings over five years will be nearly £60million. His pre-contract deal also includes an option for a further year worth more than £13million. And Ronaldo could scoop a further £30million in profits from his clothing company CR9, which will be endorsed by Real Madrid. Meaning he stands to pocket a cool £17million a year if he stays at the Bernabeu for six seasons.
That made him only the fifth best-paid in the world, behind England's David Beckham, Brazilians Ronaldinho and Ronaldo and Barcelona's ex-Arsenal striker Thierry Henry.
That is how much the Spanish giants are expecting to bank from the marketing and merchandising opportunities they will exploit out of Ronaldo.
A top Madrid source said: "He would be a great commercial asset and he could be worth up to £510m over a 10-year period. Madrid no longer have David Beckham and it can have a long-term effect on the revenues.
"In this aspect, Cristiano would make a huge impact.
"Beckham helped Real overtake United as the club with the highest proceeds. Ronaldo could be the difference in the next five to 10 years."
