Doug McIntyre
Soccer Journalist
All it took was one four-word sentence from Cristiano Ronaldo for the 40-year-old superstar to become the talk of Planet Fútbol once again.
“This chapter is over,” the Portuguese icon wrote cryptically on Monday on Instagram, the post apparently signaling both the end of his 2.5-year stay with Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr and, perhaps, one final move before one of the greatest careers in soccer history is over.
“The story? Still being written.”
The big question, of course, is: Where? Ronaldo is out of contract next month and, while he’s not the all-conquering player he once was, there are plenty of reasons to assume that he’ll still have no shortage of suitors.
Spanish sports daily AS reported that as many as 10 teams are chasing his signature. None other than FIFA president Gianni Infantino made headlines last weekend when he suggested that Ronaldo could be on the way to one of the 32 participants in the forthcoming Club World Cup, which will also be held stateside.
For most fans, Ronaldo was out of sight and mind during his spell at Al Nassr. He clearly wants to leave the sport that he and Lionel Messi dominated for the better part of 20 years at the highest level possible: next year’s 48-nation, United States co-hosted World Cup.
Still the Portuguese captain, the former Sporting Lisbon, Real Madrid and Juventus attacker was just named to his country’s 27-man squad for next week’s UEFA Nations League Finals. With a World Cup appearance next summer, he’d become the first player to appear in six tournaments.
So he’ll have to choose his next club wisely to stay in the mix and finish his career on a high. Here are four potential destinations for CR7.
MLS: Are the roster rules feasible?
Lionel Messi has made a splash with Inter Miami in MLS, but a rekindled rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo seems hard to fathom.
Could Ronaldo follow Lionel Messi to MLS? It seems exceedingly unlikely at first glance. During his time in Saudi Arabia, Ronny didn’t have nice things to say about the top circuit in the U.S. and Canada’s level of play. As petty and self-serving as those comments were, they surely rubbed the league and its billionaire owners the wrong way.
Then there’s the cost, which would likely be in the Messi range of $20 million in salary alone — more than most MLS clubs drop on their entire rosters, and the fact that many of the league’s bigger-spending franchises already have their maximum allotment of three salary-exempt “Designated Players.”
On the other hand, Ronaldo remains one of the most marketable athletes on Earth. He’d still score in MLS (Ronaldo had 74 goals in 77 league games for Al Nassr) and would bring a ton of eyeballs with him. It would also take just one of the domestic league’s 30 owners to pull the trigger and make it happen.
Liga MX: A reunion with ex-Real Madrid teammates?
Sergio Ramos and James Rodriguez are two ex-Real Madrid players in Liga MX this season. Would Cristiano Ronaldo be tempted to join them?
Money is rarely an object for Liga MX’s biggest clubs, and plenty of former Europe-based stars have enjoyed a late-career turn in Liga MX — Ronaldinho, Dani Alves, Sergio Ramos and André-Pierre Gignac among them. Club World Cup-bound Monterrey, who signed Ronaldo’s former Real Madrid teammate Sergio Ramos last season, could be a fit. Mexico City-based Club America could probably afford his wages even if they don’t beat LAFC in Saturday’s playoff to qualify for the final Club World Cup spot.
Brazil’s big clubs ahead of Club World Cup?
Like Liga MX, Brazil’s Série A has become a popular destination for European veterans of late. Local products like David Luiz and Marquinhos have returned home with domestic clubs on improved financial footing in recent years. They’ve been joined by the likes of Martin Braithwaite (Denmark) Memphis Depay (Netherlands), Dimitri Payet (France). There are several Portuguese players based in Brazil now, too; culturally, Ronaldo would have no trouble settling in.
Four Brazilian clubs are involved in the Club World Cup, though AS reported on Wednesday that three of them — Palmeiras, Flamengo and Botafogo — have ruled out adding Ronaldo next month, leaving only Rio’s Fluminense.
Sporting CP: A return to where it all started?
Cristiano Ronaldo, right, was a rising talent with Sporting CP in Lisbon before launching into superstardom.
According to at least one online betting site, the odds that Ronaldo returns this summer to Portuguese champions Sporting CP – his boyhood club in Lisbon – are as good as any. He joined Sporting at age 12 and rose through the ranks, playing 25 first-team games before then-Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson snapped him up following a preseason friendly between the sides back in 2003.
Ironically, Sporting is the only one of Portugal’s Big Three that isn’t a Club World Cup entrant; Benfica and Porto will represent the Iberian nation in the U.S. instead.
Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ByDougMcIntyre.
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