Cristiano Ronaldo is keen to leave Manchester United for a club that will be in the Champions League next season.
The forward’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is working to find a new destination, while he held talks with the Red Devils regarding his client’s future earlier this week.
Atlético Madrid were pushed forward, but they have ruled out the possibility to sign the 37-year-old this summer. AS discussed the Portugal international joining Napoli on a loan deal.
TuttoMercatoWeb journalist Enzo Bucchoni takes a look at this claim and then breaks down the possibility of Ronaldo arriving at the Serie A side.
He says Napoli come into the picture for several reasons, mainly because of the super-agent’s friendship with their chairman, Aurelio De Laurentiis. The Italian club need a new player to be the ‘face’ of their summer window because the journalist feels it cannot be their new signing, Kim Min-jae.
Having lost Kalidou Koulibaly, Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne and David Ospina, Bucchoni says the Naples club will need someone who can cheer up their ‘depressed’ supporters, both for sporting and financial reasons.
Mendes can solve the sporting problem by bringing the Manchester United player to Napoil as he would be the ‘perfect name’ for them. The issues come in the economic aspect of the deal.
Even if Ronaldo were to arrive on a loan deal from Manchester United, his €8m per year salary is a problem for Luciano Spalleti’s side.
“We have always known how attentive De Laurentiis is to his family management, to the accounts that must remain within certain areas,” Bucchoni said.
“The Ronaldo operation, let us remember, even though it was much bigger at the time, also put Juventus, which has a multinational behind it, in difficulty. And then any reasoning should be stopped with a single consideration: Ronaldo in Naples is economically unsustainable.
“But do you want to tell me that Jorge Mendes doesn’t know certain things? He knows them very well and if he puts certain things around, if AS collects them, if De Laurentiis has been contacted, it means that there is someone behind them who is working to try to make ends meet. To make it certainly attractive, perhaps even sustainable.
“I believe that someone like De Laurentiis would do anything to bring Ronaldo to Naples. I’m sure the idea stimulates him.”
