Luis Figo has sensationally said that Cristiano Ronaldo could move to Barcelona at a future date.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a name that is loathed and is proverbially on the same level for Barcelona fans as Voldemort’s for the wizards in the Harry Potter universe. The player has been on the hate list of the Catalan supporters, as the Portuguese international has been the catalyst in Real Madrid’s success and triumphs over the recent past.
CR7 is absolutely adored by all the Real Madrid fans and a move to Barcelona would seem almost impossible for the player, given his altercations with Gerard Pique and his on-field rivalry with Lionel Messi.
However, one person seems to disagree with the above notion. Portuguese legend Luis Figo talked to ‘Plus Brand’ and was reported by Portuguese newspaper Record to being asked about Ronaldo’s possibility of moving to Barcelona in the future.
Figo said,“ We are in a free market. If there is a termination clause, anything can happen.”
One would think the question does not make sense in the first place but if one were to explore the possibility of Ronaldo moving to Barcelona, who better to answer and clear the dilemma than the Portuguese legend Luis Figo.
Figo was a loved figure at Barcelona and was at the heart of a Barcelona team that secured a domestic double twice in two seasons in 1997-98 and 1998-99. The player, though, decided to move to arch-rivals Real Madrid at the turn of the century in a deal worth around $60m, after making 172 league appearances for the Blaugranes.
The player took the heat from Barcelona fans and was astonishingly at the centre of an event where a fan had thrown a head of a pig at the player, seemingly in an attempt to brand Luis Figo ‘a pig’ for joining Real Madrid. The player did, however, go on to make 164 league appearances for Los Blancos while winning La Liga twice in his first two seasons with the club.
There are similarities to both the situations, if one looks at it closely. Firstly, both are Portuguese internationals and regarded as the best players of their nation of their respective generations.
Luis Figo had transferred to Real Madrid for a fee, which then, broke the record for the most expensive signing and if Barcelona were to come in and attempt a swoop for Ronaldo, it is likely to shatter the current transfer record set by Paul Pogba’s transfer to Manchester United.
Another thing to look at is the prospect of Ronaldo and Messi playing together up-front for a club which is absolutely jaw-dropping for the club they end up playing for and the worst nightmare for their competitors.
Not to mention, the move would be absolutely crushing for Real Madrid’s PR but on the other side, would provide Barcelona with huge revenue in terms of shirt sales and sponsor attractions.
Figo’s comments may look out of order, but the concept does not seem too far-fetched. There were rumours of Neymar heading towards an exit from the club with the player being targeted by Real Madrid in the summer and who better to replace Neymar than the player who is arguably one of the very few players above the Brazilian’s current stature in the footballing world.
No one is saying a move is in the pipelines right now, but it sure would not be out of this world to envision Ronaldo and Messi donning the same jersey on a regular basis, some time in the future.
