Cristiano Ronaldo and other megastars could finish career in A-League, says Harry Novillo

MELBOURNE City flyer Harry Novillo says the A-League could be a legitimate end-of-career proposition for megastars like Cristiano Ronaldo with the right promotion.

International Champions Cup. Real Madrid vs Manchester City at the MCG. Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring first half goal. Pic: Michael Klein

MELBOURNE City flyer Harry Novillo says the A-League could be a legitimate end-of-career proposition for megastars as big as Cristiano Ronaldo with the right promotion.

The French-born Martinique international declined offers to return to Europe at the end of last season, instead signing a two-year deal with the Manchester City-owned club in June.

Novillo, who has scored in City’s past two games after returning from a hamstring injury that saw him miss the first four rounds, said he initially doubted his move to Australia, but instantly fell in love with Melbourne after arriving earlier this year.

It’s a similar tale spoken by many of the A-League’s foreign stars.

And Novillo insists there is no reason why the biggest names in the game can’t be lured here, even Portugal legend Ronaldo - a three-time Ballon d’Or winner whose Real Madrid side attracted a near 100,000 cried to the MCG to watch play Manchester City in July.

“We have to do something to promote this work and have many, many people come to the game,” Novillo said.

“Maybe it’s not even for us now, but for the future.

“Maybe in seven years Cristiano Ronaldo can say ‘I want to finish my career in Australia’ or Karim Benzema can say ‘I want to finish my career here’.

“And it could happen. It could. They’re going to say, beautiful country, beautiful people, good clubs.

Cristiano Ronaldo in action against Barcelona.

“You know El Dorado (the fabled city of gold)? We could make this the new El Dorado. Players would say, ‘I want to go there’.”

Novillo is used to rubbing shoulders with the game’s elite given he is a product of the youth system at Ligue 1 giant Lyon.

There the winger played senior football alongside the likes of French stars Hugo Lloris and Aly Cissokho and other internationals in Miralem Pjanic (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Michel Bastos (Brazil) and Dejan Lovren (Croatia).

Fan behaviour has been a contentious topic of late, but Novillo, 23, insists A-League support — while passionate — should not be compared to Europe, where violence often rears its head.

It is another reason, he said, why the competition is such an attractive proposition for internationals.

“When you walk in the street, you can breathe,” he said.

“Even when you lose you still have the people with you, but in Europe you can have fans who would die for the club and never going to let you forget things if you lose.

“If you lose, they think they can fight with you, do real stuff against you. Here you don’t have this kind of stuff.

“I remember a game against Adelaide at home, I make the most bad game of my career, but fans come to me and say ‘oh, you were amazing’.

“And even if you know it’s not true they give you the smile and make you keep working

Originally published as Cristiano Ronaldo and other megastars could finish career in A-League, says Harry Novillo