Cristiano Ronaldo Reportedly No Longer Wants Madrid Exit After Public Support

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly no longer wants to leave the club after president Florentino Perez's public show of support. 

Reuters' Richard Martin shared the report, based on information from an AS journalist:

AS ran with the report as its cover story, as shared by AS English:

Transfer speculation mounted in the wake of tax-fraud allegations, per A Bola (h/t Marca). Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and AS Monaco were all linked with the Portugal international, who reportedly felt persecuted by the Spanish media.

He's not the first player to consider leaving La Liga in the wake of a tax scandal. In 2015, the father of Barcelona star Neymar advised his son to do the same, citing "attacks," per Cadena SER (via Goal's Chris Davie).

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Neymar never followed through on those plans, and it seems Ronaldo won't do so, either. On Tuesday, Perez spoke to Onda Cero (h/t the Mirror's Joe Mewis) and made it very clear Real will support the 32-year-old forward:

"It has affected me how the media treated Cristiano; the presumption of innocence was not respected.

"I believe everyone must comply with their tax obligations, and I know that Cristiano always does things the right way.

"Cristiano has the same corporate structure he had in England, where he spent many years without problems.

"I am sure that Cristiano complies with his tax duties, it must be a confusion that will be cleared."

He added Ronaldo's buyout clause is £1 billion, and no clubs have made any offers so far.

Ronaldo has been with Real Madrid since 2009 but is linked with a return to United almost on a yearly basis. He remains one of the world's best forwards and scored two goals in the UEFA Champions League final win over Juventus.