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MADRID. — A day after signing a bumper fresh contract with Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo has boosted his mind-boggling earnings with a new deal with Nike, the American sports giant said on Tuesday.Together the multimillion mega-deals are expected to cement Ronaldo’s status as the world’s highest-paid sportsman, ahead of great Barcelona rival Lionel Messi.

According to American magazine Forbes, Ronaldo trumped Messi in 2016 with an income of $88 million.

There are no concrete figures, but Ronaldo’s new five-year contract with Real is expected to net the 31-year-old Portuguese forward in the region of a basic salary of 25 million euros a year.

He could also bag up to 40 million euros a year for the Nike deal, according to Marca.

Marca and AS, the Spanish sports dailies, said the Nike deal is for life, rather like the one between Nike and basketball legend Michael Jordan.

“I have a great relationship with this brand, I have great friends here in the company,” Ronaldo said in a Nike press release announcing a “new, long-term contract”.

“We work as a family too,” he added.

“This is my brand.”

Ronaldo on Monday signalled his intention to keep playing for 10 more years after rounding off a “dream year”. — AFP.