Cristiano Ronaldo Thinks It's Possible, but Barcelona Transfer Will Never Happen

Cristiano Ronaldo knows the way that modern football works, mainly because he has been a gleaming, omnipresent feature of it for much of the last decade.

The Portuguese is aware that, when he opens his mouth and talks about his future, cameras and dictaphones are switched on, shorthand quotes are scribbled on notepads and even the slightest pause in his words is taken as evidence of something bigger.

The man who brought out his own feature film this year certainly isn’t averse to the spotlight, and it is likely that he knew the potential power of his words when he gave an interview to the Associated Press on Thursday.

As reported by the Guardian, here’s the highlight:

"

There are things that you kind of already have an idea, that to play one day for Barcelona would be almost impossible, or to play for another English club other than Manchester [United], it’s very complicated.

But that’s not 100% guaranteed. As I said before, there are no certainties in football.

Everything is open, all leagues.

I may end my career here with Real Madrid. I’m just being honest. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. If I was 75% certain, I would say so, it wouldn’t be a problem. But I have no idea.

"

Bingo. We have a story.

Here’s Ronaldo throwing himself open to the transfer speculators and rumour-mongers by literally refusing to rule out a move to any club. Barcelona, Chelsea, Wigan Athletic, Bognor Regis Town, they’re all in there.

Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

And he’s right, obviously, there are no certainties in football, bar perhaps Louis van Gaal getting angry in press conferences or Daniel Sturridge being injured.

Ronaldo, who turns 31 in February, is just doing what every footballer would do when they reach his age. He’s keeping his options open and leaving everything on the table.

The thing is, though—and clearly this won’t have crossed the mind of a man who has scored a frankly ridiculous 334 goals in 320 Real Madrid appearances, including four in the Champions League in midweek—there are clubs out there who’d be quite happy to take themselves off that table.

Barcelona, clearly, are the most obvious example. Ronaldo will never play for Real Madrid’s great rivals, and the reasons for that are numerous.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

Not only would a move from Madrid to Catalonia—the “reverse Figo,” as it would surely come to be known—be the most remarkable transfer in football history, but it would also be the costliest once everything is taken into account. And despite Barca being acutely aware of Ronaldo’s great talent, often at their expense, they’ll have to feel that it just isn’t worth it.

You’re probably aware, but Luis Enrique currently fields a front three of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, a 28-year-old, a 28-year-old and a 23-year-old who are currently combining to form arguably the greatest attacking force that club football has ever seen.

Daniel Ochoa de Olza/Associated Press

The three of them are astonishing together, and they seem determined to break last season’s record haul of 122 goals between them as Barca swept to a treble success which probably got Ronaldo starting to think of his future away from Madrid.

The only way that the Portuguese could end up at the Camp Nou would be if one of those three were tempted away by another club, but where could they go? And more importantly, why would they want to?

No, Ronaldo won’t be seen in a Barcelona shirt any time soon, but that table of his potential clubs is still pretty full without them.

Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, both Manchester clubs, maybe even a money-spinning move to Asia, it’s all possible, until you get a little further down that Associated Press interview, again reported by the Guardian:

"Right now I don’t see myself playing in the American league [MLS], but that’s right now.

"In two or three years I may think differently."

Ah, there we go, MLS. A Hollywood ending.

The mooted Barcelona move may be pure fantasy—and make no mistake, Ronaldo knows that—but spending his golden years raking in the cash while smashing in free-kicks and penalties all across the USA? That sounds more like it.

That sounds like a fitting ending to the story of one of the greatest players to have ever lived.

Ronaldo may have spent much of his career writing his own scripts, but I think we can all see where this one is headed.

And it isn’t Barcelona.