Cristiano Ronaldo’s next club: Lionel Messi link-up in MLS, third stint at Man Utd & the seven options for CR7 if he leaves Al-Nassr
Retirement is on the table, too, though Ronaldo rejected the possibility when speaking to Canal 11 in October.
“People, especially my family, say, ‘It’s time for you to stop. You’ve done everything. Why do you want to score a thousand goals?’ But I don’t think so,” he said. “I think I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team, and why not keep going? I’m sure that when I finish, I’ll be fulfilled, because I gave it my all. I know I don’t have many more years, but the few I have, I’ll try to enjoy to the fullest.”
Ronaldo is only 39 goals short of that magic, four-figure career total, and it would feel like a tragedy if he doesn’t make it – at least for the man himself.
An elusive World Cup is still on his agenda, too, as Portugal head into the 2026 event in North America as one of the favourites. Some believe that Ronaldo is standing in the way of his country’s progress, given he’s only scored once in his last 10 major tournament appearances and often rebukes his team-mates for neglecting to look for him straight away, but Roberto Martinez has emphatically dismissed such a notion.
“He’s a player who, for us, is a finisher. He’s the all-time leading scorer. So, having a player who now has 25 goals in the last 30 games (across qualifiers, friendlies and the Nations League) for the national team is a gift,” the Portugal boss said last month. “It’s about the present; we’re not talking about what he did 10 years ago. So, for me, his commitment is very important. He’s the only player in the world with more than 220 international caps. So, with Cristiano Ronaldo’s experience, having the commitment he has… He’s an example. And he’s a player who inspires the locker room.”
Can you imagine the Portugal national team without Ronaldo? They’d probably pass teams to death, with Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes and Joao Neves getting all the headlines. But who needs fluid football when you can go direct to a man who will always back himself go for glory, even when there appear to be better options?…
Martinez is spot on; Ronaldo remains a gift for the sport, if only for the publicity he continues to provide. Whether him continuing to play is beneficial to anyone aside from Ronaldo is, however, at least up for debate.
