Ronaldo is not ready to pay €14.7m tax

Cristiano Ronaldo has no intention of paying the €14.7m (£12.9m) he has been accused of defrauding the Spanish taxman upfront, his agency Gestifute have told Spanish news agency EFE.

On Wednesday both the Spanish newspaper ABC and state television TVE claimed Ronaldo had reluctantly agreed to pay the sum he is accused of having failed to declare in order to reduce any subsequent fines and prison sentences.

But according to EFE there has been no such softening from the Portuguese international even though a payment upfront would not have been an admission of guilt and would still have allowed him to defend himself against accusations of tax fraud between 2011 and 2014.

Portuguese paper A Bola claimed that the player had told team-mates in the Portugal camp at the Confederations Cup in Russia that he would not return to play for Madrid again after the Spanish state prosecutor filed a lawsuit against him.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez tried to smooth over the situation with several interviews at the start of the week to mark his return to office as president.

But amid claims he will meet with Perez after international duty with an offer from Paris Saint Germain under his arm, Ronaldo has decided to fight on and make no pre-payment of the money he is accused of having defrauded.

His decision may not be welcomed by Real Madrid who are understood to be in favour of the player making the gesture before he appears before Madrid judge Mónica Gómez Ferrer on July 31.

Gomez Ferrer will make the final decision on whether the matter goes to trial. Ronaldo could be fined as much €40m if he contests the accusation in court and loses. He could also face a prison sentence.

The sentence however would most likely be of less than two years, and in Spain prison terms of under two years do not have to be served in custody if it is a first time offence.