Former Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will not be returning to Sporting Lisbon this summer.
The Portuguese international has been linked with a fairy tale return to his boyhood club ahead of the 2021/22 season after enduring a mixed campaign with Serie A giants Juventus.
Ronaldo’s mother Dolores Aveiro also fuelled speculation over him going back to Lisbon by claiming she would ‘talk to her son about a return’.
🗣 Maria Dolores (Cristiano Ronaldo's mum) on her son's future:
"I'll talk to him to bring him back [to Sporting]. Next year, he will play in Alvalade." pic.twitter.com/16dJgbFR4R
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) May 13, 2021
However, despite speculation over the 36-year old’s next move, as he enters the final year over his contract in Turin, his agent Jorge Mendes has confirmed there will be no move this summer.
“Cristiano is proud of the title won by Sporting (this season), as he has publicly demonstrated,” Mendes told an interview with Portuguese outlet Record.
“But at the moment his career plans do not go through Portugal.”
Ronaldo’s career exploded in his early days at Sporting Lisbon, which earned him a high profile move to Manchester United in 2003, before joining Los Blancos in a then world record £80m deal and going on to become the club’s highest ever goal scorer.
He is expected to shake off a minor injury picked up early this month to lead Portugal at this summer’s European Championships with Fernando Santos due to announce his confirmed squad this month.
I agree with Jorge Mendes on this, I believe it makes no sense for Ronaldo to return to sporting at this time and I wrote about that on my Twitter account yesterday. First of all, sporting cannot match his salary, bonuses, the enormous commercial value that he has. Should this move happened it will affect his massive global followings, especially die hard fans like me. I would suggest maybe after the coming world if he thinks his body can no longer cope with the demand of playing in any of the top five major European leagues. At this present he seems to be in good shape for me to keep playing in any of the top five major European leagues.