Cristiano Ronaldo GalaxyAfter the gargantuan signing of Gareth Bale by Real Madrid, Ronaldo was hounded by the press to see whether he was negatively affected by the fact that Madrid had spent more money on the Welshman than on the Portuguese star. However, a few short days after Bale’s arrival, Ronaldo has landed a contract that will make CR7 forget all about the money Los Blancos spent on Bale.

It is rumored that Ronaldo will be making a weekly salary of around 403,000 Euros (without including bonuses and money made from his image rights). Months after losing the “biggest transfer” fee to Bale, Ronaldo is now the highest paid player in the history of football. Not surprisingly, Ronaldo already had the record but his newest contract actually DOUBLES his previous salary.

The contract is for five years and would keep the 28 year old in Madrid until he is 33 years old. The odds that he actually ends his career with Madrid seems unlikely though, and Ronaldo has even made a few glances towards the MLS and he will certainly be aware of the massive piles of cash that heading to the USA would bring to him.

The biggest news for any Madrid fan is that Ronaldo does seem locked in to the Madrid club for at least another 2 or 3 years. With the amount of money that they make on his jersey sales alone, the deal is probably rather financially viable. Ronaldo is definitely one of the most popular players in the history of the sport, and anything with his name on it will instantly sell (there is a reason only Ronaldo has signature boots from Nike).

The funny side of this story is that Madrid have now been rumored to be reporting that the Bale sale is actually less than that of Ronaldo’s. However, Tottenham maintains that the fee initially reported (about 100 million Euros) was accurate. Why would Madrid lie? Because they would not want to hurt Ronaldo’s ego…any man who scores 203 goals in 203 appearances for your club is definitely not a player you want to mess with. Madrid, although in a laughable manner, are just protecting their assets.

Although Ronaldo may not have been excited about the arrival of Bale at first, it definitely looks like he used the Welsh wizard’s arrival as a springboard to snag this huge contract. Now all we have to do is wait a little while until Barcelona give Messi a contract that dwarfs Ronaldo’s new deal…a move that is probably just above the horizon. One thing is certain, I could live very comfortably on the interest of Ronaldo’s money alone…perhaps if I write a few flattering articles he might consider that deal…