Ending Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract just 15 months after signing him could be the best deal Manchester United have done in years, judging by the extraordinary situation Juventus find themselves in now.
The entire board of directors resigned from the Serie A club on Monday following allegations of false accounting and market manipulation.
If found guilty, the Italian giants could face a series of legal challenges that could significantly worsen an already dire financial situation.
Their presence on the Italian stock market as a PLC exposes them to lawsuits from shareholders and financial authorities alike, and according to journalist Gianfranco Teotino, the Old Lady’s signing of Ronaldo was the “original sin”, the first step on a path that may lead them to the brink of ruin.
The club spent €100m to reward him from Real Madrid in 2018 and spent three years paying the striker €31m a season, breaking his salary structure in sensational fashion.
They also vastly overestimated the financial advantage that signing a player of Cristiano Ronaldo’s caliber would bring, with Teotino claiming they were “only partially” paid in terms of financial growth, and that overseas TV rights received no boost during their tenure. .
Success on the pitch didn’t grow either, as the Champions League trophy remained elusive while Juventus’ dominance in Serie A waned. That also negatively affected the club’s revenue.
But selling Ronaldo to Manchester United last season didn’t solve all his problems.
According to The Athletic, Juventus posted a whopping loss of €254.3m during their last campaign, breaking an unwanted Italian record in the process.
A big contribution to that staggering figure is player salaries. During Ronaldo’s time in Turin, Juventus renewed 14 contracts with senior players, many of whom saw their salaries rise significantly to catch up with the Portugal star’s mammoth salary.
They also signed 24 players, whose agents knew full well what Juventus were willing to pay for talent and could negotiate higher salaries with Ronaldo’s earnings.
Manchester United have some experience in situations like this, with Alexis Sánchez being a notable example. The Chilean signed from Arsenal in January 2018, with the Red Devils offering an unprecedented £350,000 a week deal.
It quickly became apparent that Sánchez’s performance levels did not justify him earning twice as much as almost everyone else in the team and United are still suffering the financial consequences of that contract today.
David de Gea’s agent was quick to use Sánchez’s terms as leverage for United’s then Player of the Season and negotiated a £375,000 a week contract for his client. To this day, that salary is still the best paid to any Spanish footballer of all time.
Anthony Martial, who has barely featured this campaign and spent the start of the year on loan at Sevilla, managed to secure a £250,000-a-week contract a year after Sánchez was signed.
Mino Raiola saw fit to dismiss a £300,000-a-week offer to Paul Pogba as “nothing”, while Jadon Sancho’s agent had a clear benchmark for a United winger’s worth when he negotiated a £350,000-a-week salary for your client.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s situation at Old Trafford threatened to get much worse.
Grossing in over half a million pounds a week and showing no quality to justify it, the legendary goalscorer could have been used as a benchmark in a series of deals, with a host of United players in need of renewals.
David de Gea, Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Diogo Dalot, Fred and even young stars Alejandro Garnacho and Shola Shoretire all have contracts that expire this June.
United have options to extend most of those deals for another twelve months, but have yet to activate any of them, perhaps realizing that such a move would only be a kick in the road.
Instead, the Red Devils have chosen to evaluate the performance of players under Ten Hag before negotiating deals on new terms. In some cases, the club is likely to offer reduced wages, with De Gea and Fred being notable examples.
United face a fight to regain control of their salary structure after the Alexis Sanchez fiasco, but without the specter of Ronaldo’s salary package hanging over them, they have every chance of success.
If the club had hired a manager whose focus was on keeping Ronaldo happy rather than forging team spirit, it’s easy to imagine a scenario where the striker’s one-year extension clause kicks in and the aforementioned players had to their representatives pointing out their salaries as a reference for their renewals.
Fortunately, that’s one bullet the club has managed to dodge, which should make Ten Hag’s task of creating a harmonious winning team that much easier.
(All salaries and renewal dates were sourced from Capology, while Juventus transfer information was sourced from Transfermarkt)
