Enormous fee paid by company to hire Cristiano Ronaldo for a day back in 2017 comes to light through Football Leaks 

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most influential names in sports, let alone football, due to his carefully curated image. In addition to being one of the best footballers on the pitch, the Portuguese star has carried his business side along, as well.

Ronaldo employs the Multisports & Image Management company to manage his image rights. This Irish company is responsible for negotiating fees where the 38-year-old superstar is meant to make appearances.

Der Spiegel journalists Rafael Buschmann and Michael Wulzinger published a Football Leaks book in which they detailed the costs of hiring the Portuguese superstar. The book revealed the details of a deal that was struck between Ronaldo's camp and Saudi Telecom giants Mobily back in 2017.

Mobily paid an eye-watering £920,000 for a four-and-a-half hour period with the Portuguese star, who was with Real Madrid at the time. This period included a photoshoot, five signed shorts and two plugged posts across his social media channels.

The Telecom company was granted permission to make use of the images they took on the day, but their advertising does not go beyond the Middle East, where they are based, and North Africa. By normal standards, this is an absurd amount of money to pay one man, but by Cristiano Ronaldo's standards, this is the norm.

Ronaldo earns a great deal of money from his current contract with Al-Nassr, which he signed when he joined them in January. He is currently on a reported £21,400 per hour and £514,000 per day, making him one of the highest-paid athletes.

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Cristiano Ronaldo still among football's big boys

With five Ballons d'Or to his name and five UEFA Champions League titles, it is evident where Cristiano Ronaldo's level is.

Only one player, Lionel Messi, has been able to successfully challenge him for quality on the pitch and influence off it. Despite this, Ronaldo appears to be more influential, and his Instagram followers count can attest to this fact.

At 38, Ronaldo still commands wages many footballers can only dream of while also earning huge sums of money off the pitch.