Cristiano Ronaldo Sells His Image Rights to Valencia Owner Peter Lim

Cristiano Ronaldo's quest for world domination continues, with the Portugal and Real Madrid forward selling his image rights to Valencia's owner, Peter Lim.

Lim, who is a close friend of Ronaldo's agent, Jorge Mendes, is a valuable link to Asian markets.

In a statement on his website, Ronaldo said:

"

I am very excited to announce my latest deal with Mint Media, owned by my good friend, businessman Peter Lim from Singapore, to acquire my image rights. This is a very strategic move for me and my management team to take the Cristiano Ronaldo brand to the next level, especially in Asia.

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The deal is noteworthy, Marca adds, because image rights were a central part of negotiations when Ronaldo signed an extension with Real in 2013: "Image rights played a big role in Ronaldo's drawn-out contract negotiations with Real Madrid back in 2013. The eventual outcome was that the star regained control of over 50 percent of these rights, according to reports in the Portuguese media at the time."

Now, Ronaldo has yet another way of building his brand in Asia, which is good—it might mean fewer mouth-exerciser promotions.

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Cristiano Ronaldo appears on Japanese TV to promote bizarre facial exercise device. VIDEO: http://t.co/dvVjOdlDmk pic.twitter.com/p4cKe18z4P

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) July 23, 2014"

Hrant Khachatryan/Associated Press

[h/t Marca]