Real Madrid News
Real Madrid rule out Cristiano Ronaldo winter signing due to two reasons
Cristiano Ronaldo’s reign at Manchester United ended in a very uncharismatic way as the club sacked him for an interview he did with Piers Morgan. He went on record to criticise the manager, the club owners, and his teammates, leading United to terminate his contract.
Now without a team, Ronaldo has been training at Real Madrid’s facilities. He has been strongly linked to Saudi Arabian giants Al-Nassr, who have offered him a bizarre €200 million contract.
While his next club is undecided, Tomas Gonzalez-M reports that Ronaldo would ‘love’ to return to Madrid. However, Los Blancos have ruled out his signing on two counts.
One, they believe that signing Ronaldo would serve as an obstacle for young guns in the squad like Rodrygo and Valverde. The former, especially, serves as a back-up across the front-three, and has been doing an excellent job at it.
Valverde, meanwhile, is the starting right-winger for the club. And while his position does not match that of CR7’s, his game-time would definitely reduce should the Portuguese return to the Spanish capital.
Secondly, Madrid’s management are of the opinion that Ronaldo will not accept a back-up role quite yet. While his decline has been clear, the 37-year-old is still looking for an important role in his next team, presumably as a starter.
Given Karim Benzema’s injuries this season, Ronaldo could have, in theory, served as his back-up, but that seems rather implausible.
Further, Madrid have managed to balance their team on and off paper quite well. Ronaldo’s salary, distasteful attitude in the dressing room, and his antics off the pitch would only cause chaos within the team.
Coming off an incredible Champions League and La Liga run last season, Madrid face stiffer competition this season to retain their titles. They are sitting second in La Liga, two points off Barcelona, and will face Liverpool in the Champions League round of 16.
Dani Ceballos is one of the players who has Real Madrid on the fence after his recent resurgence. The club appeared certain to part ways with the player during the commencement of the 2022/23 season but no longer find the decision as straightforward.
According to reports from MARCA, Real Madrid are in no hurry to renew Ceballos’ contract. Though his deal runs out in the summer, the Merengues prefer to focus fully on the competitions they are alive in instead of entering auctions for his renewal.
Ceballos has given Los Blancos the signal that his priority is to stay and is waiting for an offer from the board. However, nobody from the administration has contacted him yet.
Sniffing a moment of opportunity, Atletico Madrid have entered the scene and conveyed their interest in signing the midfield star. Los Rojiblancos have already called his entourage twice in recent weeks and a move away from the Bernabeu cannot be ruled out.
At 26 years of age, the Spaniard wishes for regular starts and playing time. It would be difficult for such demands to be met in Real Madrid owing to the sheer number of young prodigies rising in the middle of Los Blancos.
Come next season, Ceballos could be lost in the mix of Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga, Federico Valverde and veterans like Toni Kroos, while Jude Bellingham could also arrive.
Ceballos has made 19 appearances for the defending champions in La Liga this season, providing one assist in that duration. At just 10 starts and 44 minutes averaged per game, however, his role is clearly centred around the bench.
Moving to Atletico Madrid could thus work well in his favour for he is almost guaranteed playing time in Simeone’s system which is in dire need of a quality attacking midfielder.
The player is currently on international duty with La Roja for the Euro qualifiers. In the team’s opener against Norway, he came on at the hour mark and made a strong cameo with three key passes and a big chance created.
