Cristiano Ronaldo has won a legal dispute with former club Juventus over £17million in frozen wages.

The Portuguese icon commenced legal proceedings with the Italian giants over salary arrangements during the pandemic. With the club struggling financially, Juve struck agreements with Ronaldo and other players to defer wages which were never received.

The Turin club failed to inform the Italian Football Federation and to report the arrangements in their financial accounts. As an arbitration tribunal found Ronaldo, as well as Juventus, to be at fault, the 39-year-old received half of what he was claiming, about £8.3million, plus interest.

Ronaldo hasn’t been the only player to recover wages from the club, with Argentina forward Paulo Dybala, now of Roma, getting back around £2.6million.

Reports in Italy from Gazetta claim Juve never set aside money for the deferred wages and it is possible other players could follow Ronaldo’s lead and go down the legal route, potentially plunging one of Europe’s biggest clubs into bigger financial difficulties.

Juventus, who are listed on the stock exchange, recorded losses of more than £100million in the 2022-23 financial year, which ran to the end of June, it announced in October.

Ronaldo spent three years with Juve, scoring an impressive 101 goals in 134 games before his ill-fated return to Manchester United. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner now plays for Al-Nassr in the cash-laden Saudi Pro League.

According to American business magazine Forbes, Ronaldo was the world's highest-paid sportsman in 2023, with £110million, including £37million in wages. His net worth, meanwhile, is reported to be in excess of £500m.