Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo along with the rest of his Juventus team members, including head coach Maurizio Sarri, have all agreed to forego four months' worth of salary in order for the Italian giants to better manage the financial difficulties created by the coronavirus pandemic. The club will stand to save €90 million due to the agreement.
The total amount represents wage payments from March to June, and Juventus said the gesture made by Sarri and his squad would be a big boost in the immediate aftermath of the Serie A shutdown that is now on its third week.
League officials have indicated that games will not resume until April 3, but the likelihood is the season will continue to be suspended. It is the same case for football competitions across Europe and other sports events around the world, which translates to huge financial losses as revenues from ticket sales and merchandise stopped flowing in.
CNN said Juventus would renegotiate the terms of the pay cut agreement "in good faith" once the season is restarted, meaning the club intends to make payments in normal terms when the games are played again.
"Juventus would like to thank the players and the coach for their commitment at a difficult time for everyone," the Turin-based club said in a statement.
Italy is among the hardest hit of the novel coronavirus spread, per the same report. Not only that, the country has seen the number of deaths breached 10,000, but it also endured a death rate that is the highest in the world. Not long ago, authorities have reported that more 1000 people succumbed to the disease, which was preceded by daily death counts in hundreds.
Amid the global health crisis, members of Juventus and other football personalities are doing their share. Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes recently donated to €1 million to Portugal that will be used in the country's ongoing fight to stop the spread of the virus.
Lionel Messi of Barcelona also gave the same amount to Spain, which like Italy, is grappling with the paralyzing effect of COVID-19.
In a related report, Forbes said the wage cut would lead to Ronaldo losing millions but his total pay for a year will still dwarf over the amount receive by regular football players. The numbers show that the Portuguese striker is not only the best-paid in the Juventus roster but also in the world and perhaps matched only by his closest rival Messi.
Despite the generous amount he will be giving up, Ronaldo remains on track to bring his total earnings to one billion in the U.S. dollar term, and the report said he would be the only third sports superstar to do so, following the lead of Tiger Woods and Floyd Mayweather before him.
