Neymar, Real Madrid and Gareth Bale: The winners and losers as Cristiano Ronaldo joins Juventus

With the deal done, who is smiling and who is left counting the cost?

Real Madrid have sold Cristiano Ronaldo to Juventus for a fee of around £90m.

The former Manchester United winger joins the Italian champions on a four-year deal after asking the Bernabeu club to grant his request to leave.

Ronaldo scored over 400 goals in his nine years at Real Madrid, an astonishing haul that contributed to him winning his five Ballon d'Or awards and four Champions League trophies.

But who will benefit most from one of the biggest transfers of all-time and who will be left counting the cost?

WINNERS

Real Madrid

To sell any player of declining value at 33 years old to another club for nearly £90m is a terrific effort from Real Madrid, who appeared to have lumbered themselves with Cristiano Ronaldo's ageing process come what may when they extended his deal last summer.

The 33-year-old forward has had near-annual meltdowns since turning 30, always looking for a bit more money and/or recognition so at least the unwanted controversies and tantrums will be gone.

Unless they sign Neymar, in which case they may be jumping straight from the frying pan and into the fire.

Either way, Madrid get a big sum of money for a player (surely!) past his prime and they can start to renew this old squad of players with resources there to make a splash and get younger.

Neymar

If you believe that the Brazilian wants to leave Paris Saint-Germain and move to the Bernabeu, which is the long-held belief of those surrounding Florentino Perez, then this is a move that just made that a whole load easier.

How to wedge in a new galactico around Ronaldo was always a concern during his nine years in the Spanish capital and the up-and-down relationship between the Portuguese and Gareth Bale was evidence of that.

But with Ronaldo leaving there is a vacuum for a superstar should Madrid be able to convince PSG to part with one of their crown jewels. That is where the awkward bit begins....

Gareth Bale

Bale scored in Real Madrid's victory over Liverpool in Kiev that secured the Champions League (Getty)

The Welsh winger was fully expected to leave Real Madrid this summer but Ronaldo's departure would appear to open up more playing time for someone whose major gripe towards the end of last season was not getting on the field even when fit.

Bale has shown little evidence that he can string multiple games together over the past year or so but when he's played regularly he has been outstanding for Real and could be restored to a more comfortable position in the team should Julen Lopetegui see him as the best fit for the left-sided attacking role.

Juventus

They just signed one of the greatest goalscorers to walk the planet and one of the most marketable players on earth. Even if the investment never materially pays itself back they can be confident that, over time, they will likely pick up enough new fans to have made it worthwhile long-term.

Serie A

This might be the biggest coup for the Italian top flight since the original Ronaldo, O Fenomeno, signed for Inter.

Juve's league title was already virtually secure even before they made this signing but the lure of the league is now greater, players will want to move to Italy for a chance to play with or against Ronaldo. It's a huge coup, even if he only scores 20 goals this season it is still evidence that Italian clubs can attract top players after a period where Ligue 1, historically an inferior rival, had been poaching Serie A's best.

LOSERS

Real Madrid

(Getty (Getty)

There is no club that can simply move on from losing a player of such importance, not even the Real Madrid Death Star.

Any other good striker handed the chances that Ronaldo has finished in his nine years at Real Madrid would undoubtedly have hundreds of goals to their name too but not quite the quantity that the Portuguese has to his name and almost certainly not those biggest ones in the most crucial moments.

Ronaldo will also be an enormous loss to the commercial department of Real Madrid who now must not only re-tool their squad but find new faces to build their brand around. Spanish duo Isco and Marco Asensio appear the most likely but they remain a way off being as famous or desirable as the 33-year-old Portuguese.

La Liga

El clásico and La Liga lose a star who helped define an era (Getty)

A league that was for so long the best in the world now faces a strong challenge from the resurgent Premier League and has lost one of its star names. Maybe the star name.

At a time when different leagues are doing different things to gain relevance, La Liga needs to continue to provide the best football in the world which was, at least until recently, its fair claim of supremacy over the English top flight.

What Real Madrid do next is something of huge importance to this league as a whole.

Gonzalo Higuain

Higuain's future at Juve is in doubt (Getty Images)

No sooner had the Argentina forward returned from the World Cup as he had been linked with a move away from Juventus, who were reportedly trying to clear some space on the wage bill for Cristiano Ronaldo.

With the latter part of that coming to fruition, Higuain will be sitting nervously. There is likely only room for one stationary attacking reference point in the Juve attack and the former Real Madrid and Napoli man looks to be first in the queue to be sacrificed.

Stephan Lichtsteiner, Gianluigi Buffon and Kwadwo Asamoah have already left to free up significant wages but there may be more, possibly Miralem Pjanic or Paulo Dybala, but most likely it's going to affect Higuain.

Juventus

They paid an unprecedent amount of money for a guy who is 33 and will continue to stuff more cash into his pockets for the next four years. If he bombs, they're on the hook for hundreds of millions.