Ronaldo refuses to rule out stunning South America move
Martin Macdonald
- 14 Jan 2022 10:42 GMT
- 5 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo has refused to rule out the possibility of one day playing football in Brazil.
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."
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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."
How has Ronaldo performed this season?
During the summer, Ronaldo 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.
They are currently seventh in the Premier League and face a fight just to qualify for the Champions League.
At an individual level, though, Ronaldo has been United's best player, with his goalscoring regularly lifting the team out of trouble, particularly in the Champions League.
In 19 starts in all competitions so far, he has scored 14 goals and recorded nine assists.
