With Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Juventus growing uncertain with each passing day, reports emerged of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner returning back to Portugal to represent boyhood club Sporting CP. However, the 36-year-old's agent Jorge Mendes has put an end to any such speculations for the time being stating that at the moment, the Portuguese star’s career plan ‘do not go through Portugal’. Juventus Star Willing To Take Wage Cut To Secure Sporting CP Return.

Cristiano Ronaldo has had a decent season with Juventus but the team has failed on the collective front as they failed to defend the league title for the first time in a decade and are still battling to qualify for the Champions League. And it is understood that failure to make it into Europe’s elite competition could see the Portuguese star look for a new club with a return to Sporting tipped as one of his destinations. Cristiano Ronaldo Reportedly Abandoned by Juventus Teammates.

Sporting CP recently won their first league title since 2002 and Cristiano Ronaldo’s mother, Dolores Aveiro, who is a supporter of the club, vowed to persuade her son to join his former club. ‘I’ll talk to him to bring him back. Next year he will play in Alvalade,’ she told the fans while celebrating the domestic triumph.

However, Jorge Mendes, Cristiano’s agent has put an end to the transfer rumours, saying the 36-year-old is not planning to return to Portugal. ‘Cristiano is proud of the title won by Sporting, in fact, as he has publicly demonstrated. But at the moment his career plans do not go through Portugal,’ he told Record.

There is a lot of doubt surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo’s continuity at Juventus after a below-par season by the Bianconeri but nothing is confirmed yet. The Italian club’s hierarchy in past have made it clear that they would like to keep the 36-year-old until the end of his contract in 2022.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 15, 2021 10:20 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).