Home/Soccer

Cristiano Ronaldo shocked the world when he returned to his former club, Manchester United, on Friday. The Portuguese superstar followed in the footsteps of his arch-rival Lionel Messi after the former FC Barcelona man moved to Ligue 1 this summer.

While Messi moved to Paris Saint Germain on a free transfer, Manchester United signed Ronaldo for a measly €15m with €8m in add-ons. The former Juventus man took a massive wage cut, much like Messi, to join the club where he won his first Ballon d’Or and UEFA Champions League.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Cristiano Ronaldo will earn around £480,000-per-week at his new club. He’ll still be the fifth best-paid player in the world with yearly wages of €23 million. Lionel Messi is still at the top of the list after his wages were drastically reduced to €35 million per year.

Ronaldo earned around €32million-a-year in wages at Juventus, which brings his pay cut to almost €10 million. However, the numbers get astronomically high for Lionel Messi, as the Argentinian reportedly earned between €70 million and €90 million per season.

He was the highest earner in the world of football by far, and now that he has slashed his wages by half, he’s still number one. It can be argued that he brought more money to the club than he took, and that would be true. PSG sold a million shirts bearing Messi’s name on the day of his signing, and the revenue generated by the shirts would amount to over €100 million.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi in 2020/21: By the numbers.

The two greatest players of all time have refused to decline with age and were the best players in their leagues last season. Ronaldo ended his Serie A campaign with 29 goals, and he was close to overtaking Messi in the Pichichi award.

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

However, the Argentinian trumped him again and scored 30 goals in 35 games. Moreover, Messi ended up with 11 assists to his name, while Ronaldo only had three. Nevertheless, now that both of them are in better teams, it will be interesting to see how they perform this season.

Read More: BARGAIN! The Shockingly Low Amount Manchester United Paid for Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus