Report Claims Cristiano Ronaldo Turned Down Mega Money Offer to Play in China Last Season
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly turned down an extraordinary offer worth €200m to play out the next chapter of his career in China.
According to Spanish outlet Marca, the offer was made to his agent, Jorge Mendes, by an unnamed Chinese club in December 2017.
Ronaldo evidently rejected the two-year deal, worth a total of €200m, and now looks set to join Serie A champions Juventus in an £88m transfer.
If he made the move to China, the 33-year-old would have joined the latest group of players - including Jose Fonte, Yannick Carrasco and Nicolas Gaitan - in making a move from Europe to China to ply their trade in a new country.
In rejecting this deal, Ronaldo has once again made it clear that he is motivated by footballing challenges rather than money. He seems so close to joining Juventus, that he recently consulted former boss Carlo Ancelotti about life in Italian football, with the 59-year-old manager joining Serie A giants Napoli at the beginning of this month.
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Ronaldo has had a sensational career to date, which has seen him pick up the Balon d'Or on no less than five occasions. Since joining Real Madrid in 2009, the forward has scored an insane 450 goals in 438 appearances for Los Blancos.
His future in the Spanish capital has been called into question on several occasions over recent years, only for him to sign a new contract at the end of it. However, this move to Juventus looks to have legs and could spark a crazy frenzy in the remainder of this summer's transfer window.
The window will close just days into the season this year - much earlier than usual - as sides across Europe scramble to wrap up their business.
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Ronaldo's arrival at Juventus would be their seventh signing of the summer, following the arrivals of Emre Can, Giangiacomo Magnani, Andrea Favilli, Mattia Perin, Douglas Costa and Joao Cancelo in Turin already this summer.
