COVID-19: Juventus could sell Ronaldo for £63m in a bid to cut costs

Juventus could be forced to sell Cristiano Ronaldo due to the devastating impact on their finances from the coronavirus crisis.

There is huge concern about the long-term economic impact of the pandemic, and Italian newspaper Il Messagero reports that Juventus might not be able to afford to pay Ronaldo’s eye-watering contract even when football returns to normality.

Ronaldo has agreed to waive four months’ wages to help the club’s finances, as have his Juventus team-mates, along with manager Maurizio Sarri. They have agreed to a reduction in pay equal to the monthly payments of March, April, May and June, which is set to save the club around £80million.

But Ronaldo’s enormous £500,000-a-week wages – his contract is worth over £27m per year – could prove too much for Juventus to sustain even when revenue streams return.

Football clubs across the globe are being hit by a complete loss of matchday revenue with all fixtures cancelled until further notice, plus the looming threat of huge reductions in TV payments, should those fixtures never be played.

Ronaldo’s old rival Lionel Messi, along with his Barcelona team-mates, has agreed to a 70 per cent reduction on his wages during the coronavirus crisis.

Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid in 2018 for £100m, but now aged 35 his transfer value will have dropped. Ronaldo’s fee would be around £60-£65m, according to the report.

A new study by the CIES Football Observatory has suggested, however, that transfer fees will drop by 28 per cent due to the financial impact on clubs of coronavirus, which could see Ronaldo’s value hit further.

If Juve were unable to afford Ronaldo, that would also place Aaron Ramsey’s future in doubt. The Welshman is the second-highest earner at the club on £400,000 per week, having negotiated a huge contract after leaving Arsenal on a free transfer last summer.

Even with a relatively modest transfer fee, any outlay combined with Ronaldo’s enormous wages would represent a huge outlay, making him unaffordable for all but the richest clubs.

His former club Manchester United would be near the top of the queue were he to become available, while Manchester City should have the financial might to compete, depending on the impact of their ongoing FFP battle. Super-rich Paris Saint-Germain could be another option.

Just who could afford Ronaldo remains to be seen, however, with clubs across the globe all sure to be hit in some way by coronavirus.

Italy has been hit harder than any other country in the world by the pandemic, recording over 11,500 deaths so far from a total of over 100,000 confirmed cases.

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There was encouraging news on Monday when the country recorded its lowest total of deaths for two weeks, suggesting strict lockdown measures could be slowing the progress of Covid-19.

But there remains no prospect of a return to action for Italian football. Juventus have not played since beating title rivals Inter Milan on March 8.