The story of Ronaldo's Chinese temptation

Subject of mega-bid last summer

Posted Sunday, January 01, 2017 by Marca.com

Although the news about Chinese interest in Cristiano Ronaldo has only just become public knowledge, the story in fact occurred last summer.

It was then that clubs from the Chinese Super League first contacted Real Madrid about the possibility of signing their star man, who was then the subject of two astronomical offers.

The first was a 250 million euro transfer fee and the second was for Ronaldo, who was offered more than 100 million euros per season.

From the outset, those proposals were met with a strong rebuttal from Los Blancos and the player himself because both parties were negotiating the terms of a new contract which would be confirmed months later.

The commitment of the club to Ronaldo and vice versa was solid and unwavering and not even an offer of those seismic proportions could tempt them.

Both Real and the Portuguese continued talks as if nothing had happened and the deal was eventually signed on November 8.

The best evidence that the Chinese offer wasn't even taken into account is that during his discussions with Real, Ronaldo's main concern was the length of contract as opposed to the numbers contained within.

To that end, he renewed his deal for the same amounts that were stipulated in his previous contract, which is more than 20 million euros net per season.

There is no doubt however that the Asian temptation was real and had powerful backing.

Despite this, both parties were clear that they wanted the relationship, which began in 2009, to continue until the expiry of his current contract in June 2021, at the very least.