Ronaldo

If I look up Ronaldo in a thesaurus, will I find the word classless?


In case there is any doubt, I'm talking about Christiano Ronaldo and his latest effort to leave Man Utd. To be fair, Ronaldo is a fantastic player in terms of his skill. The only problem is his propensity for gamesmanship which has always highly disappointed me.


In any event, the current issue I have with Ronaldo is his claim that he is some kind of modern slave. Granted, the comments originally came from Sepp Blatter (another plonker as far as I'm concerned but I'll save this rant for Ronaldo) but Ronaldo has come out in support of those comments.

Which is so far beyond ridiculous as to be insulting. Christiano Ronaldo is being paid a small fortune every week to play football. If he doesn't play, he still gets paid. If he does play but plays poorly, he still gets paid. If he plays and plays well, not only does he get paid but he probably also gets bonuses. This is all guaranteed by the contract he signed.

And this will remain the case for as long as he is in contract. A contract, which it is also worth pointing out, he knew all about before he signed. However, Ronaldo would now rather play somewhere else. The only problem is the slight issue of the legally binding contract that he signed (the same contract, it is worth mentioning, which also protects his rights). Quite frankly, he knew how long the contract was for when he signed it. The only way that Ronaldo can leave is if Man Utd agree to sell him.

Naturally, Man Utd don't want to sell one of the most skillful players of the current generation. Having said that, if someone offered a figure ludicrously high enough (say for example GBP2,000m), then I'm sure Man Utd would sell. Obviously, nobody will offer such a high amount. The point is that the market is about supply and demand and despite what Man Utd say, I believe that every player has his price. Man Utd have the supply (the player under contract) but nobody has met the demand price yet. And if he doesn't like it, then he is free to see out his contract and leave for any club he desires.

And so Ronaldo will have to stay at Man Utd. But he has the gall to equate his situation (ie being forced to meet his obligations under the contract he signed) with slavery. As I said, this is so ludicrous, it enters into the realms of insulting - particularly to those who are or were slaves.

Right now, I have only contempt for Ronaldo together with a fervent desire that he never gets what he wants in life.