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 ($16.8 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.
