Madrid: Ending weeks of speculation about his future, Cristiano Ronaldo has told a Spanish newspaper he is staying put at Real Madrid to plunder more silverware.
“To win important trophies with my club and the personal honours last season was brilliant, to do it again would be nice,” Ronaldo told the sports daily Marca on Tuesday in an interview from Shanghai.
Ronaldo’s declaration of intent to remain at the Bernabeu for the upcoming season comes despite rumours of his departure which surfaced last month in Portuguese newspaper O Globo.
Those reports were founded on his apparent feeling of abandonment by his club over his run-in with the Spanish tax authorities.
Ronaldo, 32, has been summoned to appear before a judge near Madrid on July 31 to answer four counts of evading 14.7 million euros (Dh62.9 million) in taxes.
The four-time Ballon d’Or winner has protested his innocence with O Globo saying he had threatened to leave Real over the investigation.
Since extending his contract last November until 2021, Ronaldo is the highest paid sports star in the world with $93 million (83m euro) in 2016-2017, according to Forbes magazine.
On Saturday Real manager Zinedine Zidane assured Real supporters that the superstar striker “was on holiday and would be back with us on [August] 5”.
Ronaldo has been given leave to miss the club’s pre-season US tour and Zidane, speaking in Los Angeles, insisted that he would be back at the club “on the fifth [of August] and I think he’ll stay for the next two or three years he’s got left with us.”
In Tuesday’s Marca interview Ronaldo also looked ahead to the 2018 World Cup with European champions Portugal.
“We still have to qualify but I’m hoping that Portugal can win an incredible title.”
Ronaldo could be joined at Real by Kylian Mbappe, after Marca, citing sources close to the negotiations, said the Spanish giants had agreed a world record 180 million euros deal with Monaco.
Marca said on Tuesday that the teenage striker is expected to joining Real “in the next few days” on a six year deal.
French newspapers Le Parisien and Nice Matin said Monaco had denied the report.
But Marca insisted that Real are set to pay between 150-160 million euros with add-ons of between 20 and 30 million, dwarfing the current world transfer record of 105 million Manchester United paid to lure Paul Pogba from Juventus last year.
Real are looking to fill the void left by Alvaro Morata who joined Premier League champions Chelsea last Friday.
If he does arrive at Zidane’s European champions the 18-year-old will be on a net annual salary of “seven million” euros, Marca said.
Mbappe, under contract at Monaco until 2019, has been wooed by some of Europes’ top clubs, including Monaco’s arch Ligue rivals Paris Saint-Germain.
Last week Monaco issued a warning to the likes of Real and PSG to lay off their starlet.
“Top European football clubs made contact with Kylian Mbappi and his entourage without our authorisation,” Monaco said on their website.
The club said they wanted to remind these clubs that such actions are contrary to French and international regulations.
Mbappe scored six goals in 10 Champions League outings and 15 in Ligue 1 as he exploded onto the scene in the second half of last season.
On Monday Monaco lost full-back Benjamin Mendy to Manchester City in a world record 52 million pounds deal for a defender.
