The Brazilian great has made his second foray into management after previously buying a 51% stake in Real Valladolid in 2018.
Ronaldo Nazario has purchased a controlling stake in his boyhood club Cruzeiro.
The former striker, who played for Cruzeiro as a teenager in the early 1990s, reached a deal worth 400 million real (€62m/$70m) to take over the Brazilian Serie B club through his Tara Sports company, with the aid of Brazilian investment bank XP.
According to the club’s website, the transaction is still subject to a ‘series of conditions’ at the moment.
“I am so happy to have concluded this operation,” said Ronaldo in a video posted by the Cruzeiro president, Sergio Santos Rodrigues.
“We have a lot of hard to work to do. There’s nothing to celebrate yet but we bring a lot of hard work and the ambition to make Cruzeiro great again.”
Semanas atrás, @Ronaldo falou um pouco de seu carinho pelo Cruzeiro no Flow Podcast.
Hoje, é dono de grande parte das ações da nossa SAF! 👊🦊#CruzeiroFenomenal pic.twitter.com/88aJFNYZzi
— Cruzeiro 🦊 (@Cruzeiro) December 18, 2021
Ronaldo’s open letter to Cruzeiro fans
In an open letter to the Cruzeiro fans on Instagram, Ronaldo added: “It’s my turn to try and open doors for the team. Not as a hero. Not with superpowers to single-handedly change reality. But with immense responsibility. With intelligent and sustainable management for medium- and long-term growth.”
“I don’t have all the answers to the questions that I ask myself and I possibly won’t have all the answers to the questions that you will ask me.
“What I do know is that the kid who learned at Cruzeiro that dreams can come true today makes me believe that it is possible to rescue the club from its crisis.”
Ronaldo also owns a 51% stake in Spanish club Real Valladolid.
The 45-year-old played for PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Corinthians before hanging up his boots in 2011.
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