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United need £140m to buy Ronaldo

Cristano Ronaldo signed a new Real Madrid contract last September © Getty Images

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Manchester United's hopes of bringing Cristiano Ronaldo back to the club from Real Madrid reportedly rest on them putting together a package worth £140 million.

Ronaldo, 29, was targeted by United in 2013 before the forward eventually signed a new contract at the Bernabeu last September. However, Europe's top clubs are said to have been informed about the likely cost of a potential deal, prompting speculation about a move.

Money talks

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring for Real Madrid © Getty Images

• £140m might buy Manchester United five years of Cristiano Ronaldo's services, but what else could they spend that amount of cash on?
  
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The reigning holder of the FIFA Ballon d'Or would reportedly cost around £60m but his wages would be added to that cost and total around £80m over the duration of what would be expected to be a five-year contract. Image rights and performance-related bonuses could lift the total cost still further.

United broke the British transfer record in the most recent transfer window when they signed Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid for £60m, the stand-out deal in the club's £150m summer outlay that also included bringing in striker Radamel Falcao on loan from Monaco. Both players share the same agent, Jorge Mendes, as Ronaldo.

Despite missing out on Champions League football this season, record sponsorship deals with adidas and Chevrolet and a host of other lucrative marketing deals across the globe mean that United would be able to afford funding such a deal.

Spanish economist Jose Maria Gay de Liebana told AS on Thursday that Real Madrid's €602million debts explain why the reigning European champions have started selling star players for big money in recent years.

Gay de Liebana, a professor at the Universidad de Barcelona, said that the sales of Di Maria, Mesut Ozil and Gonzalo Higuain over the last two summers were due to a need to regularly bring in money to cover the club's short-term liabilities.

"It means they needed to bring money in," Gay de Liebana said. "I believe they sold Di Maria and others well. Madrid was never a selling club, but a buying club."

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