Report: Cristiano Ronaldo wants to play for Los Angeles
By Mike Dyce
Cristiano Ronaldo is eyeing a move to Major League Soccer and the preferred city is Los Angeles.
There have been rumors that Cristiano Ronaldo is eager to finish his playing career in Major League Soccer when his contract with Real Madrid ends in 2018. Sorry, Manchester United fans.
Hard to fathom that the man who won the last two Ballon d’Or Awards would be ready to cross the pond in 2018, sure he just turned 30 but he could probably play past the age of 33 in Europe, the age he’d be in 2018.
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Whatever his reason is, American soccer fans will embrace him.
As far as where he wants to play, he has apparently made up his mind according to a report from Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl.
It seems unfair that another European superstar is going to get dropped into the laps of the Los Angeles Galaxy, who are getting Liverpool captain and former England captain Steven Gerrard this summer to replace Landon Donovan.
But such is life and Major League Soccer.
Is it too terribly surprising that Ronaldo, the tanned, chiseled, underwear model would want to be in Hollywood? Beaches, fashion, movies, perfect weather, and more, all sounds like Ronaldo’s kind of city.
The little wrinkle here is that it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be playing for the Galaxy. There will be another Los Angeles team sometime in the near future, the former Chivas USA club.
Wahl writes:
"Meanwhile, I’m told it’s looking more likely every day that LAFC won’t start play until 2018. That means we could see Ronaldo debut for a new team in a new stadium that year.Keep in mind, too, that MLS commissioner Don Garber has already said if LAFC doesn’t start until 2018, Minnesota United, which MLS originally announced would begin play in 2018, would enter the league in 2017 with Atlanta."
While Major League Soccer fans in lesser cities like Dallas, Chicago and Kansas City might bemoan the stars never landing in their city, this one makes some kind of sense.
And if Ronaldo is going to come to MLS just when the decline of his career begins, and I literally mean just begins, then you can’t stop him from hand picking his city and team.