Reports: Man City is now Cristiano Ronaldo’s only way out of Juventus

For weeks, it was believed that the only possible destination for Cristiano Ronaldo if he was to leave Juventus this summer would end up being at Paris Saint-Germain. They could afford Ronaldo’s massive salary and they could, at some point this summer, have a certain need for a world-class goal scorer if somebody like Kylian Mbappe decides to not renew his contract and head over to Spain to play for Real Madrid.

Instead, PSG went out and signed Lionel Messi — and thus the possibility of Ronaldo staying at Juventus looked only that much more certain since a move to Ligue 1 was never going to be simple to begin with.

But over the last few days, there’s suddenly another door that might be creaking open as rumors of Ronaldo wanting out of Juventus continue to become more and more plentiful as the end of the summer window fast approaches. That club is Manchester City, according to reports from the likes of Sky Sport Italia and L’Equipe on Tuesday. While both outlets — and pretty much anybody else who mentions Ronaldo wants to leave Juventus — admit that any kind of deal is going to be difficult to complete, nothing has been ruled out when it comes to the two clubs potentially making something happen.

However, according to Sky Sport Italia’s Fabrizio Romano, Manchester City “have no intention” of paying Juventus a few upward of €30 million, the figure of amortization that would allow the Bianconeri to not post a loss on the books.

Quality timing on all of this, right? Not only has Juventus’ season already started, but now we’re entering the final week or so of the transfer window with absolutely no real solid feeling about what Ronaldo’s future at Juve might be. That is because when you’re dealing with a club that has unlimited funds like Manchester City, there is always a chance that something crazy can happen.

Now, this is the same Man City that has been chasing the possibility of signing Harry Kane for weeks, and The Athletic has reported that the Englishman certainly still remains in the top spot when it comes to strikers City want to sign this summer. The chase for Kane will be the thing that will either kick City’s interest over to Ronaldo or see something happen with Tottenham over the next week.

But the catch is that Jorge Mendes, Ronaldo’s infamous agent, is still very much in contact with Manchester City’s front office, according to Sky Italia. Yes, the same Sky Italia that said “In short, the road that would lead Ronaldo to England is full of obstacles that are difficult to overcome.”

What does this all mean? Despite his second-half appearance against Udinese in the season opener this past weekend, this definitely has the makings of a player who does want to leave and his agent is trying to make something happen at the 11th hour. That, clearly, is something that will be very difficult to accomplish knowing that multiple dominoes still need to fall — both roster-wise and financially — for Ronaldo to even have a chance of returning to the city of Manchester and the Premier League.

Maybe that’s why Juventus’ front office is convinced Ronaldo will stay. Or maybe it’s some other reason completely different than where this current line of thought is going. Either way, you can ask Pavel Nedved or Max Allegri about Ronaldo, and you’re going to get the same answer: He’s staying — no matter what the current reporting out there is saying.