COVID-19: Juventus may sell Cristiano Ronaldo

Italian giants Juventus are reportedly considering selling star man Cristiano Ronaldo in order to raise cash for life after coronavirus.

The Serie A has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic with Italy completely ravaged by the dreaded disease.

Juve have already lowered the wages of players and coaching staff significantly, with the figure believed to be around a 70 per cent cut.

But Italian outlet Il Messaggero report that the Old Lady could even resort to selling Ronaldo, and could demand as much as £62.5m for the 35-year-old in order to balance the books.

This comes days after European media outlets reported that Ronaldo, Juve’s best paid, agreed to sacrifice $4.24 million – not enough to make a dent in his annual earnings and only four per cent of the club’s expected savings.

Last year, the Portuguese striker earned $109 million, including $65 million in salary and bonus, to rank as the world’s second highest-paid footballer, behind eternal rival Lionel Messi.

As per Forbes, even at the reported 30% pay cut under consideration by all Serie A clubs, Ronaldo would still earn an estimated annual $46 million paycheck — an amount greater than the total earnings (salary, bonus, and endorsements) of all players in the world except Messi at Barcelona and Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo has already donated $1.8 million to hospitals in his native Portugal to help with their coronavirus efforts.

Contrary to previous circulated reports, Forbes confirmed with his representatives that the 35-year old father of five did not buy an island where his family could self-isolate until it was safe to return to Italy, or offer up his namesake hotels in Portugal to be used as hospitals.