Florentino tells Cristiano: "There's no money to give you a pay rise"
Real Madrid's president promised Cristiano a pay rise after the Champions League final in Cardiff but now says that there are no funds to do so.
With a certain disinterest from the public for this afternoon's visit from Deportivo (5,800 tickets were still unsold yesterday) and to all intents and purposes out of the title race for LaLiga, Cristiano Ronaldo will be back in focus at the Bernabéu. It will be interesting to see how the player is received by the public - he hasn't played a home match since AS reported his intention to join Manchester United at the end of the season. Cristiano isn't happy that Florentino appears to have gone back on the promise he made after the Champions League final against Juventus in which the No.7 scored two of the team's goals (and another eight during the knockout rounds); the Madrid president vowed to give Cristiano a pay rise but now it is looking unlikely that will materialize. In his favour, Cristiano is the top goal scorer in club history with 422 goals in 418 games for Madrid and has won the Ballon d'Or five times. But today, the Bernabéu will pass sentence.
Not about the money
From what AS understands, Cristiano is not irritated about missing out on the extra money which a pay increase would bring him (although he does feel that his pay packet, 21 million euros, is not proportional to the 50 million euros salary which Messi earns). He is more annoyed that Florentino has gone back on his promise. Months after the final in Cardiff, the Madrid president has only spoken to him to let him know that “we don't have the money to offer you a better salary”. Cristiano isn't convinced by that explanation as Madrid tried to sign Mbappé last season and now appear to be keen to bring Neymar to the Bernabéu. Cristiano has also got wind of declarations made on El Larguero which claim that Florentino is prepared to offer him to PSG in part-exchange for Neymar.
Not supported after five-match ban
Another bone of contention is the way the club responded to the five-match ban Cristiano which the Competitions Committee slapped him for pushing referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea in the Supercup final. Cristiano felt that he wasn't sufficiently supported by the club and had hoped that they would put together an appeal to get the suspension reduced when he felt he should have been awarded a penalty.
Lastly, and on a less important note, he's not enthralled with the club's transfer dealings. He feels that Madrid were careless in letting Pepe, James and Morata leave, and unnecessarily weakened the squad to bring in younger players who will take time to make their mark...
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