Cristiano Ronaldo signed a new contract at Real Madrid this week, which he describes as his penultimate contract at the Bernabeu. What with Gareth Bale signing a contract a couple of years ago, Ronaldo was not willing to hang around for long with someone earning more than him at Madrid.
But now Ronaldo has signed a new deal, and the amount of money he is about to earn every year has been revealed by Duncan Castles of the Sunday Times. The most interesting line from the piece is the fact that Ronaldo requested the contract extension be five years, rather than four.
The new contract will make Ronaldo the first footballer to make €100 million per year, and will ultimately make him the first footballer to make more than a billion euro in career earnings.
Just less than half of that €100 million is made of his annual salary - €48 million. The rest of the money comes from Nike, with whom he has signed a "lifetime" partnership, similar to that the company has with Michael Jordan. It is the first time Nike has signed one of these deals with a footballer, and believe that, given Ronaldo's appeal in the Asian market, believe they will make more money out of Ronaldo.
Ronaldo celebrated by doing the ;east surprising mannequin challenge of all time:
