Cristiano Ronaldo sale would give Ten Hag a January transfer bonus
FT Desk
- 16 Sept 2022 16:34 BST
- 3 min read
Cristiano Ronaldo could leave Manchester United in the January transfer window - something that would swell Erik ten Hag's war chest to £100m/€113.9m.
Ten Hag has been well backed in the transfer market since succeeding Ralf Rangnick as United coach in May, bringing Antony and Lisandro Martinez with him from Ajax for a combined €165m, with another €80m dropped on Real Madrid's Casemiro.
There were also notable exits from Old Trafford this summer, with Paul Pogba returning to Juventus on a free transfer, and it was well publicised that Ronaldo wanted to be among their number after the club failed to qualify for the Champions League.
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored in 15 club competitions:
🇪🇺 Champions League
🇪🇺 Europa League
🇪🇺 Super Cup
🌍 Club World Cup
🏴 Premier League
🏴 FA Cup
🏴 EFL Cup
🇮🇹 Serie A
🇮🇹 Coppa Italia
🇮🇹 Supercoppa
🇪🇸 La Liga
🇪🇸 Copa del Rey
🇪🇸 Supercopa
🇵🇹 Primeira Liga
🇵🇹 Taca de Portugal pic.twitter.com/C976qzH5qK— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) September 16, 2022
Ronaldo opened his account for the current campaign in United's 2-0 win over Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League on Thursday, but he is now thought to be considering a big-money move to Saudi Arabia in the winter window.
"The Red Devils chief will be handed around £70m [€80m] following the end of the World Cup in Qatar this winter," write the Sun.
Significant upside
"This will be increased to more than £100m [€114m] if Ronaldo finally quits Old Trafford and his £450,000-a-week [€513,000] wages are off the books."
The package to take Ronaldo from Old Trafford would reportedly have cost €24 million - even if clubs in Saudi Arabia were offering a package worth 10 times that - but Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund were among those the baulked at that fee late in the window.
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Ten Hag has gone with Marcus Rashford as his first-choice striker at United this season, with the England international contributing three goals and two assists since the start of the new Premier League campaign.
United are reportedly still in the market for a striker, though, with Napoli's Victor Osimhen and Brentford's Ivan Toney among those who have been linked recently.
