Olympique Marseille's president closes the door to Cristiano Ronaldo

Pablo Longoria, Olympique Marseille’s president was present during yesterday’s UEFA Champions League group stage draw where he saw his club being drawn in Group D with Eintracht Frankfurt, Tottenham Hotspur, and Sporting Lisbon. But before the event started, he was asked about the reported interest of his club in Cristiano Ronaldo.

The 36-year-old Spanish man claimed there is no such interest for them in signing Cristiano Ronaldo and said it was all fake news: “It’s the social media world full of fake news. We want reality. Ronaldo’s deal is not for us. It would be like saying that De Bruyne or Haaland are Olympique Marseilles targets. Let’s focus on our real project”.

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The French club was mentioned this past week by several media outlets as one of the last clubs that could get the 37-year-old striker out of Manchester United this summer as he desperately wants to play Champions League football, which Olympique Marseille are going to be doing this season in an accessible group.

Although Olympique Marseille’s president would have loved the signing of Portugal’s captain, they simply don’t have the economic power to do that power move. They recently signed Eric Bailly from Manchester United but they also made a big investment in signing Alexis Sanchez, who has an elevated salary, which makes Ronaldo’s signing impossible.

It would have been nice

If he would have ended up leaving for Marseille, not only he would be playing the Champions League like he want to, but he would have restarted his iconic rivalry with Lionel Messi, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain. Both clubs have a historic rivalry in Ligue 1 and with one having Ronaldo and the other Messi, all eyes would have been on France this year.