Ronaldo extends Real Madrid contract

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has renewed his contract with the club, which had been due to expire in 2015, the Spanish giants confirmed on Sunday. The Portuguese international will attend a ceremony at 1:45 pm with Real president Florentino Perez at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium to mark the renewal of his deal, the club said on its website.

The 28-year-old’s record since joining Madrid from Manchester United for a then world record 94 million euros back in 2009 has been phenomenal with the Portuguese scoring 203 times in 203 appearances.
Real Madrid did not give details of the contract extention, but Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the deal will run until 2018 and make Ronaldo the best paid player in the world.

“The salary of the player will be close to 20 million euros, making him the best paid footballer in the world,” it said. Four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi was the previous highest paid player in Spain with a salary of 16 million euros a season. The deal ends a series of drawn out negotiations that began back at the end of the 2011-12 season.

However, any chance that Ronaldo could make a sensational return to Manchester United or indeed to big-spending French duo Paris Saint-Germain or Monaco now seems a long shot with the player set to under contract until he is 33. “Ronaldo wants to retire at Real Madrid, and we want him to retire here, just like [Zinedine] Zidane and so many other great players did,” Perez said in July when asked about the reports that Ronaldo was planning to leave the Spanish side.