Cristiano Ronaldo set for long-team Real deal

Madrid, Spain: Cristiano Ronaldo is leaning towards signing a long-term deal at Real Madrid, provided that he is given assurances about his No 1 status at the club with the impending world-record arrival of Gareth Bale.

Ronaldo wants to remain in Spain, despite being linked with moves to Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain, but he is insisting on being paid double Bale’s salary to underline his place as the club’s main galactico.

He will also expect the club to campaign more vigorously for him in future World Player of the Year awards and he also wants a cut of commercial opportunities he is opening up in Asia and America.

Having scored a staggering 175 goals in 167 games for Real, the Portuguese superstar wants a sharp hike in his pay, although his contract has two years left to run.

Ronaldo earns around £160,000 (Dh897,754) a week — the same ‘starter’ wage that Bale will be on — but the former United forward thinks he deserves about £320,000 a week given his achievements in the Spanish capital.

The fact that Ronaldo has so far failed to agree a new contract has led to speculation about his future, with Real’s former president Ramon Calderon claiming last week the club will sign Bale because they fear losing Ronaldo.

However, it is not the player’s intention to walk away and, if anything, Bale’s arrival from Tottenham will strengthen Madrid’s position in negotiations to keep Ronaldo.

His ego will be hit by no longer being the world’s most expensive player but agreeing a deal to be the best-paid player in Real’s history will compensate for that.

Despite uncertainty over Ronaldo’s future, Bale is signing for Madrid on the understanding he will be playing with the former United superstar, not to replace him.

It will be a massive surprise now if Bale does not end up at the Bernabeu soon. Among the details to be sorted out is if Portugese left-back Fabio Coentrao moves the other way to White Hart Lane.

Once the Bale signing is complete, Real will arguably boast the most star-studded squad in history; surpassing even their Zidane-Beckham team from a decade ago. So many of their squad, such as Ronaldo, Bale, Karim Benzema, Mesut Ozil, Samir Khedira, Angel di Maria and Luka Modric, are at their peak and they also have three World Cup winners in Spanish trio Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso.

Ronaldo spiced up the forthcoming friendly between Real Madrid and Chelsea when he took a swipe at his former boss Jose Mourinho, who moved from the Bernabeu to Stamford Bridge in June.

The Portuguese former World Player of the Year was responding to comments Mourinho made in an interview over the weekend, taken as a slight towards the forward in the Spanish media.

Mourinho said that aged 30, he had trained ‘the true Ronaldo, not the other one, Ronaldo the Brazilian’ in his time as assistant at Barcelona.

“Some things in life are not worth commenting on and this is one more for obvious reasons,” Ronaldo told a news conference in Los Angeles, where Real are on a pre-season promotional tour.

“I prefer to remember the good things from coaches. I don’t spit on the plate from which I eat and I don’t speak about people who say bad things about me.

“We are going to face Chelsea, not their coach. It is another warm-up game and we hope to win it so we can start La Liga in the best manner possible.”

Real have won all their pre-season warm up games to date under new coach Carlo Ancelotti and take on Chelsea on Wednesday, with Ronaldo having played in a newer more advanced striker role on the pitch.

“The coach has different strategies and different positions for everyone,” the 28-year-old said.

“It is good for me to try and play in different positions and I am comfortable with it. We’ll see where I end up playing during the season.”

“It’s not my place to talk about new players,” Ronaldo said when asked about Bale, who according to media reports could eclipse Ronaldo’s world record transfer fee of $125 million if the move went ahead.

“It’s not my place either to talk about the numbers that are being mentioned for his transfer. I have my opinion but I am not going to say in front of the cameras.”