As Cristiano Ronaldo flirts with Paris Saint-Germain, a big decision looms for Real Madrid

It was top winking from Ronaldo. The last time we saw him wink this well Wayne Rooney was still an angry young man at Euro 2004.

Ronaldo’s wink had been directed this time at Nasser Al-Khelaïfi. And it came as he passed the Paris Saint-Germain chairman, who was talking to reporters at the time, after Real Madrid’s 1-0 win over PSG at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Earlier, as he left the pitch on the final whistle he had stopped to whisper in the ear of Laurent Blanc – and it was a long whisper too, long enough to say: “see you next year”.

Before the match Real Madrid president Florentino Perez had been playing a similar game, with a very brief, and what looked like a very staged, tête à tête with Ronaldo as the players arrived at the stadium.

He knew the cameras were rolling – they always are for these presidential meet and greets as Perez high fives, low fives and fist bumps his expensively assembled squad as they get off the team bus.

“Why do you say these things?” he had said to Ronaldo in reference to an interview the player had given Kicker. “What things?” replied Ronaldo. There was a playful slap on the cheek from the president. And Ronaldo, looking unimpressed, barked back: “I never said that. I said it in a different way.”

In the interview he had said: “Leave Madrid one day? Why not. You never know. Everyone has to do what makes them happy. No one knows what will happen tomorrow.”

It was hardly a transfer request. Had this really upset Perez to the extent that he thought a public ticking-off was in order? Or had it just reminded him of Madrid’s fascinating dilemma?

How many times will Perez already have asked himself: ‘What is more valuable to Real Madrid, another 40 goals in the 2016-17 season or close to €100 million in the bank this summer’?

Before Ronaldo rolled up at Madrid no one had even contemplated the idea that someone could score as many goals as games-played – and no one should contemplate it ever happening again after he has gone. Whoever follows will not be as prolific. But with PSG willing to pay almost as much as Real paid for him in 2009, selling cannot be ruled out as an option.

Ronaldo has the same dilemma: play out his European career in Madrid where he could be forgiven for believing familiarity has bred contempt, or among new friends in Paris? If he goes to France and replaces the outgoing Zlatan Ibrahimovic he becomes the undisputed alpha-forward again.

Is there a better club for him than Madrid at this stage of his career? And would Real be daft to lose out on the last three years of his contract?

In the excellent book by Francisco Sagredo published in Chile this week all about Manuel Pellegrini, the Chilean coach recounts a story that illustrates Ronaldo’s unique dedication.

Pellegrini tells Sagredo that a training session set for 7pm had been changed to 6pm and Pepe, who had been giving the job of informing Ronaldo, had forgotten.

“We had a system of fines set in place,” Pellegrini says. “Ronaldo was incredibly professional and had never been fined. He always used to arrive an hour before the start of training. On this particular day he appeared in the dressing room at six in the evening just as we were starting the session.

“I had to fine him and he went crazy. And it wasn’t because of the fine, it was because he couldn’t stand the feeling that he had arrived late. The dedication and the demands he puts on himself are brutal.”

Ronaldo was not upset at the fine. He was too busy being upset with himself that he had dropped his usual faultless levels of professionalism. No wonder Pellegrini names him – along with Raul – as the greatest professional he has coached. With such dedication he could go on scoring goals until the end of his contract in 2018. And if Real sell him to PSG then he could be doing it against them next season.

But his perfectionism could also make him harder to manage as he hits the inevitable, albeit slight, decline. Keep him and you get the goals, get rid and you get the money.

There will be plenty more winks, back slaps, and very public posturing before the two sides decide. As Ronaldo told Kicker: “everyone has to do what makes them happy”.