Ronaldo hints at Real Madrid exit, Rooney faces hurdle to China future, and Son surgery successful

Ronaldo angered and disappointed following allegations of tax fraud.

Tax issues have Cristiano Ronaldo saying he may leave Real Madrid. Sergio Perez / Reuters

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo wants to leave the club and Spain after being accused of committing tax fraud in the country, a report in Portuguese sports daily A Bola said on Friday.

The newspaper said its story was based on a reliable source and that the 32-year-old four-time world player of the year had already made up his mind to ask the club for a transfer.

It said that Ronaldo was “deeply disenchanted” with the allegations against him.

Spanish prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against the player accusing him of defrauding tax authorities of €14.7 million (Dh60.28m) by hiding his image rights income between 2011 and 2014. Ronaldo has denied any wrongdoing.

Real Madrid said on Thursday that they were confident the Portuguese forward had acted legally. They could not immediately be reached on Friday to comment on the report.

Ronaldo led Real Madrid to their 12th European Cup earlier this month after scoring two goals in a 4-1 victory over Juventus in the Uefa Champions League final, becoming the tournament’s top scorer.

Ronaldo, Portugal’s all-time leading scorer, is the latest in a long line of soccer players in Spain – among them Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Neymar – to be caught up in cases over tax or transfers.

Tax on transfer fees could put Rooney bid on hold

Some of football’s biggest names remain linked with a move to China but a 100 per cent tax on transfer fees looks likely to hit spending when the country’s transfer window opens on Monday.

Wayne Rooney, Diego Costa and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are among the stars rumoured to be considering big-money moves to the Chinese Super League (CSL), which has been smashing spending records in recent seasons.

Brazilian international Oscar moved to Shanghai SIPG for €60m as Chinese clubs splashed an unprecedented €388m the January-February window.

Argentine striker Carlos Tevez also arrived on huge wages to instantly become among the best-paid players in world football.

But in May the Chinese Football Association (CFA) stepped in to limit the largesse, effectively slapping a 100 per cent tax on transfers for loss-making clubs, with the proceeds going to a government-run fund.

In each game next year, clubs will have to field as many Chinese Under 23 players as foreigners, who are already capped at three maximum.

And this week, the CFA also proposed amendments to its previous rules to stop clubs finding inventive ways to skirt the rules.

Son to take a month to recover following surgery

Tottenham striker Son Heung-min underwent successful surgery on his broken right arm on Friday and will take about a month to recover, the Korean Football Association (KFA) said.

“The operation was successful,” KFA spokesman Cho Jun-heon told AFP, adding that Son will stay in South Korea to focus on his recovery.

Son, 24, left the field in obvious pain in the 33rd minute of South Korea’s 3-2 World Cup qualifying defeat to Qatar on Tuesday, clutching his right forearm after an aerial challenge.

The operation at a university hospital lasted about an hour, and Son had the broken bones repaired with pins and metal plates to keep them in place, the Sports Chosun daily reported.

While the KFA estimated Son’s recuperation would take about a month, Song Jun-Seop, a former national team doctor, gave a longer recovery time of at least 12 weeks, according to the daily.

The new Premier League season kicks off in eight weeks’ time, on August 12, and South Korea have crunch World Cup qualifiers on August 31 and September 5.

* Agencies

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