Football legend Cristiano Ronaldo has sparked rumors he is set to leave Juventus, after removal men were captured taking his collection of seven luxury cars away from his house in Turin in the early hours of Monday morning.
Italian daily newspaper Tuttosport shared news of the clip, which was posted online by Per Sempre Calcio.
In it, a group of men work in darkness and can be seen loading the multimillion-dollar cars on to a haulage vehicle.
Belonging to Rodo Cargo, the company is a well-known removal firm from Lisbon.
Such action will immediately reignite rumors that Ronaldo is planning a move to boyhood outfit Sporting, after he recently celebrated the club's first Portuguese Liga win in 19 years which rested control of the title from the duopoly of Benfica and Porto.
'I'll talk to him [Cristiano] to bring him back," his mother Dolores vowed to Record.
"Next year he will play in [Sporting stadium] Alvalade."
Also on rt.com Sporting chance: Cristiano Ronaldo’s mom tells fans he could return to Lisbon... while he seems more focused on ‘new $2MN Ferrari’Yet super-agent Jorge Mendes has attempted to pour cold water on such talk in recent days by stating: "Cristiano is proud of the title won by Sporting, in fact, as he has publicly demonstrated."
"But at the moment his career plans do not go through Portugal."
This doesn't mean the five-time Ballon d'Or winner is staying put in Italy though either, with the collection possibly heading home until he has chosen his next destination.
As mentioned, the operation was performed at three o' clock in the morning, which suggests that the 36-year-old didn't want it to be known.
With paparazzi watching his every move however, this obviously failed and creates buzz that the superstar will leave this summer a year earlier than his contract expires in 2022.
Aiming to get to the bottom of the matter, Sky Sports Italia later reported that CR7 is still undecided on what to do.
It quoted sources that are apparently close to the forward, who insisted the relocation of vehicles is something he always does, with Gazzetta.It reporting he moves them around to different destinations approaching every summer.
At the same time it is alleged Ronaldo couldn't do this in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, local paper Corriere Torino said he moved on his vehicles, which are normally checked in Germany, for maintenance reasons a year ago.
Speaking to Radio Punto Nuovo, one of his neighbors, a Mr. Luciano Saroglia, remarked: "It’s unlikely they will move the cars to another place in Turin.
"We saw Ronaldo control operations. This is the last week of the season and [he] is moving the cars. He is an average neighbor. He doesn’t do parties or things like that."
Yet Ronaldo's mind could be made up depending how Juve fair in their last two fixtures of the campaign.
Champions League qualification rivals Atalanta await in the Coppa Italia final on Wednesday.
But winning that fifth trophy in Turin will not guarantee the chance to compete for the big-eared continental counterpart Ronaldo was shipped in for over $100 million from Real Madrid in 2018 to clinch.
On the outside looking in on 75 points, fifth-placed Juve are at the mercy of Atalanta, AC Milan and Napoli slipping up on the final matchday this Sunday.
Europa League football probably doesn't appeal to Ronaldo, which is had led to transfer stories linking him to PSG and former club Manchester United.
Despite his advanced years, though, and a humbling knockout to Porto in the UCL where he was ineffective, it can be argued that Ronaldo still has plenty to offer at the top tier with an impressive 29 goals this campaign.
This return will see him lift the Capocannoniere top scorer award for the first time in Italy. But it could be his swansong to the Serie A if Juventus fail to beat Bologna or win with other results not going their way.
Also on rt.com Lisbon link shows how close Cristiano Ronaldo could be to making a Juventus exit – the next 8 days will be decisive to his future