Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid signed a contract extension that will keep the Portuguese star with the club until the summer of 2021. Ronaldo will be 36 years old when his new deal expires and will earn the club's highest salary. Here are three reasons why extending his contract wasn't the right call.
- The new deal is way too long. It is OK to reward the best player in Real Madrid's history, but giving a 31-year old a five-year deal seems over the top. Ronaldo has completed very bad performances ever since the season started and there are legit arguments to think that he might not be effective five years from now.
- Ronaldo will not accept a bench role easily. Right now, it's almost impossible to bench Cristiano Ronaldo. He gets visibly frustrated even when taking him out of the field is the right call and plenty of controversial reports are published on the Spanish media, like when he was sent to the bench against Las Palmas. There have been times this season when Cristiano Ronaldo should've been sent to the bench and wasn't. How will he react to this situation in the future? Will he accept that he is not the player he once was and let any other young star play in his spot?
- His salary could be used to improve the squad. Cristiano Ronaldo earns €30 million, gross. If Real Madrid took his salary out of the books, they could buy a good center-back to replace the aging Pepe and the not-always-reliable Raphael Varane.
Is this five-year extension the right call? Does Ronaldo have five more years left in his tank?
— Lucas Navarrete (@LucasNavarreteM) November 6, 2016
Cristiano Ronaldo is a Real Madrid legend. There's no argument about that, but other big clubs and legends know how and when they should say good-bye and move on. Xavi left Barcelona when he felt he wasn't as useful as he was before and the same happened with Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard. Cristiano Ronaldo should've finished his contract —it would've expired in 2018— and go elsewhere to enjoy football without the pressure of being the leader of Real Madrid.