Ronaldo handed £76million sweetener as Real attempt to stop him returning to United

Real Madrid will offer Cristiano Ronaldo a five-year deal worth 90million euros (over £76m) to make him the world’s best-paid footballer and ensure he stays with the Spanish giants. 

The package would see him earning almost twice as much a season as Gareth Bale and is a calculated move aimed at soothing Ronaldo’s bruised ego after he lost the mantle of the world’s most expensive player to the £86m Welshman. 

Under the new deal, Real will pay Ronaldo £15m a year after tax and before bonuses. Bale is on £8.3m a season and Ronaldo’s new deal would put him £850,000-a-year ahead of Paris Saint-Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic

It would also all but end Manchester United’s hopes of persuading Ronaldo to return to Old Trafford. United want Ronaldo to sit tight on his current deal, which runs out in 2015, and then move for a massive £50m signing-on fee in two years’ time. 

Ronaldo will be pressured to put pen to paper in the coming weeks and is understood to be happy in the Spanish capital but still not entirely convinced about committing his long-term future to Real. 

One option would be to agree in principle on the extension but not sign until the end of the season. 
Madrid are keen to send a message to Ronaldo that he remains their most important player, despite the arrival of Bale.

The restoration of Ronaldo as Real’s most lucrative property could help Bale in his battle for acceptance in the Real Madrid dressing room. Ronaldo’s reaction to the new signing has been mixed ever since Bale’s move was first mooted in July. 

When asked what he thought about the potential signing of Bale, Ronaldo said: ‘I have my opinion but I am not going to give it publicly. I think the players we have signed already are very good. They are Spanish and know the league.’

There was a warm, if slightly staged, welcome on Wednesday when Bale trained for the first time with his new team-mates. Ronaldo met Bale in the club’s car-park, shook him by the hand and asked how he was. On Friday, however, there was another reminder of who is boss when Ronaldo was pictured going in late and studs-up on Bale in a training drill. 

The two men both scored in their first game as team-mates on Saturday night in the 2-2 draw against Villarreal and the Welshman now prepares for his first taste of Champions League action since the 2010-11 season alongside Ronaldo, whom he faced the last time he played in the Champions League.