According to a report in The Sun, Manchester United's star striker Cristiano Ronaldo will miss 5 million pounds worth of bonuses after another trophyless season.
Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Manchester United last year amid intense fanfare, with supporters hoping that the star striker would change the course of the club and lead them to silverware.
However, much to the Red Devils' disappointment, the club will finish this season without a trophy for a fifth successive year, adding to their woes even as talks over who will take charge at Old Trafford gathers steam.
According to a report in The Sun, the Portugal international joined the club last summer on a heavily bonus-related contract to offset a hefty drop in his 750,000 pounds-a-week salary at Juventus.
Another trophyless season for United means most of the 37-year-old's incentives are blown away. The costliest miss was the Champions League's last-16 shocking exit after a defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid, which would have earned the Portugues about 2.5 million pounds had they reached the grand finale in Paris on May 28.
The report added that United's failure to clinch its first Premier League win since 2013 also cost the team 1.5 million pounds. Failure in both the league and Europe's elite football competitions was another jolt in the wallet for the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.
If United fail to secure the top four spot in this year's Premier League season would hand another massive blow to Ronaldo, whose basic wages is around half the amount he was drawing in Italy. According to a recent L'Equipe list, the Portuguese is said to be earning 2.2 million pounds per month. This takes him at first place with overall earnings of 26.4 million pounds annually.
The 37-year-old striker will, however, still pocked a sizeable bonus if Ronaldo remains United's top scorer, with only fellow Portugal star Bruno Fernandes in touching distance. Still, it is a huge cut on what Old Trafford expected to pay the star when he pipped Manchester City to his signature.
Ronaldo has scored 18 goals and three assists in 33 matches for the Red Devils since his arrival at Old Trafford. At present, his focus remains on leading Portugal to the Qatar World Cup 2022, which would be his 5th appearance in the showpiece event. Portugal will take on North Macedonia on Tuesday in their playoff final at the Dragao.