A certain Portugal superstar may be handed the captain’s armband by new Real Madrid manager Rafael Benitez next season – if current skipper...
A certain Portugal superstar may be handed the captain’s armband by new Real Madrid manager Rafael Benitez next season – if current skipper Iker Casillas and vice-captain Sergio Ramos leave this summer.
According to the Express, Rafael Benitez will award Cristiano Ronaldo with the club captaincy if the superstar duo opt to turn their back on the club in the coming months.
The Portugal international would become the Santiago Bernabeu’s second-longest serving player after Marcelo Vieira. The former Liverpool boss will not hand Marcelo the captaincy, however, as his position may not be guaranteed next season.
Ronaldo himself – like Ramos and Casillas – has also been rumoured to have become unhappy in the Spanish capital, but if there’s one player in the Real squad that Florentino Perez may be unwilling to lose it’s the Portuguese goalscoring machine.
The 30-year-old scored an incredible 59 goals in all competitions, as well as 19 assists, and will likely remain key in Benitez’s first campaign in charge of the Merengues.
What’s more, handing the former Manchester United forward the armband with the La Liga BBVA giants could satisfy his demanding ego, particularly after his status as the world’s most expensive player was destroyed by Gareth Bale’s £85.3m to Los Blancos two summer’s ago.
The Red Devils made a £26.8m bid for Ramos earlier this week [BBC Sport], while Casillas is said to be on the radar of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur [International Business Times], as David De Gea looks set to take over the No.1 role in Madrid [Daily Star].
