Cristiano Ronaldo: The expensive reality of Man Utd star giving so many shirts away

Cristiano Ronaldo is often mobbed by opposition players at full-time asking for his jersey.

At the point that you’re a footballer of such fame and renown that fans run onto the pitch just to give you a hug or pose for a selfie with you, it’s only inevitable that you’ll be mobbed by shirt swap requests in tandem.

And can you blame the players who do exactly that? Of course you can’t, because getting your hands on a match-worn Ronaldo shirt is about as cool as football memorabilia can possibly get.

That’s especially the case when you get players from random Europa League clubs or lower ranked international teams for whom a clash with Ronaldo might literally be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

As such, Ronaldo must have given away his fair share of jerseys over the course of his decorated career spanning spells at Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.

Besides, given that elite footballers are often given what feels like a whole wardrobe’s worth of jerseys for each game, even wanting to keep a shirt for your own collection doesn’t necessarily stop you from dishing out threads.

However, believe it or not, doing so is actually quite a costly exercise.

Why? Well, because Ben Foster revealed earlier this year that footballers actually have to pay for every strip that they give away, which understandably came as a surprise to many a supporter.

Nevertheless, given that Foster was a Premier League veteran himself up until recently and shared the dressing room with Ronaldo at Old Trafford, it’s fair to say that he’s a pretty good authority on the matter.

Speaking on his successful ‘The Cycling GK’ YouTube channel back in January, Foster not only revealed this fun fact about life as a footballer, but he also