Cristiano Ronaldo is believed to have given his agent Jorge Mendes an ultimatum before the duo split up and ended their relationship.
The 37-year-old signed for Saudi Arabian team Al-Nassr in December after his acrimonious exit from Manchester United in a transfer engineered by Ricardo Regufe, Ronaldo’s personal manager and business partner.
By the time the deal was completed – which will see Ronaldo earn a huge £173million per year, it was widely reported that he and Mendes had ended their partnership, having first worked together in 2003 when he left Sporting Lisbon for United.
It soon emerged that the Portuguese star had gone against Mendes’ advice by leaving United this winter, a desire which he’d had from July, having also ignored his agent’s pleas not to burn his bridges at Old Trafford in the interview with Piers Morgan.
Now according to reports, Ronaldo demanded that his agent get him a move to one of two teams – or they were done.
According to Spanish outlet El Mundo, Ronaldo instructed his sporting representative – the man behind all four of his lucrative transfers to likes of United, Real Madrid & Juventus – to somehow broker a deal with Premier League club Chelsea or Bayern Munich.
Despite holding discussions with Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly and getting in contact with Bayern over the summer, Mendes failed to land Ronaldo the move and the duo parted ways.
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It’s believed that Boehly proposed the idea of signing the Portugal international to then-manager Thomas Tuchel.
The Blues head coach wasn’t keen on the idea, though, with Ronaldo’s unhappiness and behaviour beginning to become a problem at Old Trafford and he was unable to play the kind of fluid football which Tuchel preferred in his time in West London.
In contrast, the Bayern hierarchy were in agreement that Ronaldo wasn’t the type of player that they need, as CEO Oliver Kahn went public to say as much in October.
“We briefly discussed Ronaldo at Bayern and Borussia Dortmund probably did too,” Kahn told Bild.
“We also see the big picture of the Bundesliga. Of course, superstars like Ronaldo are an important factor in attracting attention to the league. He is one of the greatest of the last decade. But we quickly dismissed that.”
Ronaldo is now chartering a new path on his own, as close friend Regufe isn’t considered agent. The former United star has made one start for Al-Nassar, as he blanked in Sunday’s 1-0 win over Ettifaq.
