Failing to secure a Bayern or Chelsea move parted Cristiano Ronaldo and Jorge Mendes
According to El Mundo (h/t Daily Mail), superstar Cristiano Ronaldo demanded from super agent Jorge Mendes that a move to either Bayern Munich or Chelsea is secured last summer.
Since that did not happen, the pair parted ways before the Portuguese star moved to Saudi Arabia club Al Nassr for a deal that cost £175m-a-year to the Asian side.
Mendes did pitch Ronaldo to top clubs during the summer window, with Chelsea and Bayern being the prominent names. New Blues owners Todd Boehly was interested in making this move happen, but former manager Thomas Tuchel was not in favour of this happening.
Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn did reveal that they had internally discussed the possibility of the player arriving but later decided that he does not fit their philosophy.
The clubs backed down from the deals once the 37-year-old missed the pre-season with Manchester United. He eventually left Old Trafford by mutual termination after that infamous interview with Piers Morgan was published to the world before the World Cup.
That interview was also the final straw in the relationship breakage between Mendes and Ronaldo. The former had previously advised the latter to not leave Real Madrid as well.
Looking at how much the former Madrid star would have cost with no guarantees of return at his age, it feels like a bullet dodged for Chelsea.
Instead, we have seen the club spend money on top young talents like Noni Madueke, Mykhailo Mudryk and Benoit Badiashile during the January transfer window.
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We would rather have hungry young players who are good enough and motivated enough to perform at the highest level. With all due respect to Ronaldo and his illustrious career, there might have been doubts about whether he would come to Chelsea for money or be enrolled enough to do business on the field.