Diego Simeone makes Cristiano Ronaldo top transfer target but Atletico Madrid must raise £34m in sales first

DIEGO SIMEONE wants to make Cristiano Ronaldo the No1 transfer target for Atletico Madrid this summer, according to reports.

But the Spanish giants will have to raise £34million in sales if they are to fund a deal for the Portuguese superstar.

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Ronaldo has told United that he wants to leave in order to keep playing Champions League football.

The Red Devils finished sixth in the Premier League last season - a position only good enough to see them qualify for the Europa League.

Atletico are in the Champions League and understand that manager Simeone loves the idea of signing Ronaldo.

Simeone feels he could be the perfect replacement to Luis Suarez - who left at the end of last season when his contract expired.

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But in order to do so they will first need to sell players to the sum of £34m.

There is also the concern around him being a Real Madrid legend - Atletico's bitter rivals.

Ronaldo was the king of Madrid when he scored an astonishing 311 goals in 292 LaLiga matches between 2009 and 2018 in a spell that also saw him win the Champions League four times.

And that made him public enemy No1 with Atleti - but now he could be about to sensationally join them.

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Atletico will also have to overcome United's desire to keep their prize possession.

The Red Devils have made it clear that Ronaldo is not for sale despite them being unable to offer him Champions League football next season.

Ronaldo still has one year remaining on his Old Trafford contract but is yet to return for pre-season training.

However, the veteran has found that interest in him is not as high as he anticipated with a number of clubs ruling themselves out of the running.

Both Chelsea and Bayern Munich have declared that they are not interested, while the star himself has zero interest in taking up a lucrative offer from an unnamed Saudi Arabian club.