The three clauses in Ronaldo’s Man Utd contract

Martin Macdonald

• 24 Jan 2022 11:39 GMT
• 5 min read

In the summer of 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo completed a sensational return to Manchester United.

The Portuguese superstar made clear his intention to leave Juventus, with a return to the Premier League on the cards.

Manchester City initially appeared as the more likely destination, but upon hearing of his availability, Manchester United quickly pounced to bring him back to Old Trafford.

As a whole, Man Utd have underperformed in the 2021/22 campaign, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer already sacked and replaced by Ralf Rangnick.

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They are currently fourth in the Premier League, but qualification for the Champions League is the absolute minimum target for a club of Man Utd's size.

At an individual level, though, Ronaldo has probably been United's best player, with his goalscoring regularly lifting the team out of trouble, particularly in the Champions League.

In 21 starts in all competitions so far, he has scored 14 goals and recorded three assists.

In order to complete his return to Man Utd, he was forced to take a pay cut from his Juventus deal, but the Red Devils have made up for that with bonuses clauses.

According to the Daily Mail, Ronaldo will receive a £1 million bonus if Man Utd win the Champions League, if he wins the Ballon d'Or, or if he wins UEFA's Best Player of the Season award.

None of those are looking particularly likely currently.

What is in Ronaldo's future?

Recently, Ronaldo refused to rule out a surprise move to South America.

Last month, the rumour mill in Brazil went into overdrive when Ronaldo's mother, Dolores Aveiro, was pictured with the owner of Flamengo in Madeira.

Afterwards, Flamengo chief Marcos Braz posted a tongue-in-cheek Instagram post in which he suggested he was talking to Dolores about a transfer regarding her son.

"Persuasion always starts with the family. LOL. @doloresaveiroofficial. Of course, this is all an affectionate joke with the mother of number one, CR7."

Even though the above post was clearly in a joking manner, Ronaldo was recently asked by ESPN Brazil if a move to South America was within the realms of possibility.

He responded:

"In football everything is possible, I don't know.

"What I can say, with absolute certainty, is that Brazil is a brother country.

"Because of the relationship I have with my colleagues, because of the culture, the Brazilians who live in Portugal.

"My sister lives in Brazil, she is married to a Brazilian. I take my nutrition courses with Brazilians. It's a country for which I have great regard, I know a lot about Brazil.

"Nobody knows how to play. Nobody said I was going to return to Manchester [United] at 36, and here I am.

"Playing in Brazil? I don't know. It's far from my thoughts. But in football anything is possible, I don't know."