Cristiano Ronaldo paid SIX times more than Dhoni!

Sports Desk: Forbes recently placed Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni on number 16 in the list of highest-paid sportsmen and women across the world, making him the richest cricketer to grace the field. Dhoni, who also plays for IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings and endorses no less than 25 brands, leads the likes of Fernando Alonso and Rafael Nadal by some distance.

Nearly half of Dhoni's 25 endorsements pay more than $1 million annually, including a three-year deal with former billionaire Vijay Mallya's United Breweries Group worth more than $5 million over three years. 

While these are jaw-dropping figures, what’s most amazing is the fact that they are actually peanuts when compared to footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, who is likely to ink a record five-year deal with Spanish club Real Madrid, making him  world's highest-earning footballer ever.

Madrid are in advanced talks with Ronaldo's representatives over a deal totalling around €155 million (£132m) over five years, with the Portuguese forward set to earn £12.8m annually after tax in what will be the most lucrative contract in the history of the game.

Ronaldo’s record fortunes are in fact higher than the sum total of Dhoni’s and Ravindra Jadeja’s (another super rich Indian cricketer who went for record $2 million in IPL 5 auctions) combined wealth.

The Indian duo’s common wealth adds to $33.5 million, paltry in comparison to Ronaldo’s £132m, which when converted to USD, amount to whopping $207.24 million- a cool 6 times than the combined earnings of MSD and Jadeja.

Ronaldo, who has scored 201 goals in just 199 games in his four seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu, raised alarm bells on Thursday when he posted a cryptic message on Twitter which read simply: "All the news about my renewal with Real Madrid are false."

Days earlier, however, he revealed his intention to remain at the Spanish side beyond his current contract, which expires in 2015.

Madrid signed Ronaldo from Manchester United in a world-record €94 million (£80m) deal back in the summer of 2009, following Florentino Perez's return to the presidency at the capital club. He currently earns around €10m (£8.5m) annually after tax.

Madrid are, reportedly,  ready to meet Ronaldo's wage demands and make the Portuguese a higher earner than Lionel Messi, who takes home around €13m (£11.1m) before bonuses at Barcelona.