Cristiano Ronaldo is joining Juventus after the Italian club agreed a €100m (£88.3m) fee for the Portuguese forward with Real Madrid.
The 33-year-old is ready for a new challenge after nine years at Real Madrid and asked the club to let him go. The player and his agent, Jorge Mendes, met the Juventus chairman, Andrea Agnelli, in Greece on Tuesday to discuss the final details of the deal.
Ronaldo is signing a four-year contract with an annual salary of around €30m. In Italy clubs have to pay the same amount in tax, which takes the total cost of the transfer to €340m (€100m transfer fee plus €240m in salary and taxes).
“I only have feelings of enormous gratitude for this club and for this city,” Ronaldo wrote in an open letter to Real Madrid fans. “I have had nine absolutely wonderful years at the club.
“Real Madrid has conquered my heart, and that of my family, and that is why more than ever I want to say thank you: thank you to the club, the president, the directors, my colleagues, all the staff, doctors, physios and incredible people that make everything work.”
He finished his letter by saying: “Thanks to everyone and, of course, as I said that first time in our stadium nine years ago: Hala Madrid!”
Real Madrid released a statement on Tuesday saying that they had agreed to the transfer “at the will and the request of the player”. The statement added: “Real Madrid would like to express its gratitude to a player who has proved to be the best in the world and who has made this one of the most brilliant times in the history of our club.
“Beyond the titles he won during these nine years, Cristiano Ronaldo has also been an example of dedication, work, responsibility, talent and constant improvement.”
Ronaldo joined Real Madrid in 2009 after six years at Manchester United. He won four Champions League titles at Madrid and two league championships as well as two Spanish Cups and three Fifa Club World Cups.
He also became Madrid’s record scorer with 451 goals in 438 games. While there he won four Ballon d’Ors and three Golden Boots.
Madrid finished their statement by saying: “For Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo will always be one of our greatest symbols and a unique reference for our next generations. Real Madrid will always be your home.”
Courtesy: www.theguardian.com
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Guwahati (PTI): A woman, who spent two years in detention after being declared a foreigner, has been granted Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Assam's Cachar district, her lawyer said.
The woman, identified as 59-year-old Depali Das, a resident of the Hawaithang area under the Dholai assembly constituency, was declared an illegal migrant by a Foreigners' Tribunal (FT) in February 2019.
Depali is the first declared foreigner in Assam who had once been lodged in a detention centre and later released on bail to receive Indian citizenship under the CAA.
The police detained her after the tribunal's order and sent her to the Silchar detention centre on May 10, the same year, where she remained for nearly two years before being released on bail on May 17, 2021, following a Supreme Court order, her lawyer Dharmananda Deb said.
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Depali was originally a resident of Dippur village under Dhirai police station in Bangladesh's Sylhet district and had married Abhimanyu Das of Parai village under Baniachong police station in Habiganj district in 1987, he said.
A year later, in 1988, the couple entered India and moved to Cachar district, where they have been living since then.
Her citizenship came under scrutiny in 2013 when police initiated an inquiry against her, and a chargesheet was submitted by the police on July 2, 2013, stating that Depali was a resident of Baniachong in Bangladesh and had entered India illegally after March 1971, Deb said.
"The chargesheet later proved crucial in her application for Indian citizenship under the CAA because the applicant must provide documentary evidence showing migration from Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan," he said.
"In most cases, applicants fail to produce such documents, but in Depali's case, the chargesheet submitted by the police officer in 2013 clearly mentioned that she was from Bangladesh. The authorities accepted this document as valid proof," he added.
After her release on bail in 2021, she wanted to apply for citizenship under the CAA and had approached Deb for legal assistance once the rules of the Act were notified in 2024.
Her first hearing took place on February 24 last year at the office of the Superintendent of Post Offices in Silchar, which is designated to process such applications.
Two more hearings were held subsequently, after which all her documents were submitted online to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
"She was called to the office of the Superintendent of Post Offices in Silchar for a final appearance on May 25 last year after the field verification by Home Ministry officials, and on March 6, she received her Indian citizenship certificate," social activist Kamal Chakraborty said.
Her three children, a son and three daughters, can now rely on their mother's citizenship certificate if their own citizenship is ever questioned in the future, since all the children were born in India, he added.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019, triggered widespread protests across the country, particularly in Assam.
The Act allows Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain and Parsi migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who entered India between March 25, 1971 and December 31, 2014 to apply for Indian citizenship.
Before Das, four Bangladeshi nationals living in Assam were granted Indian citizenship under the CAA.
