Why did Cristiano Ronaldo sell his Trump Tower NYC condo for a loss? | WATCH

The Manchester United forward shelled out $18.5 million for the three-bedroom, high-floor loft with Central Park views in 2015.

At the time of the transaction, rumors swirled that perhaps the legendary Portuguese player would eventually wind up in the United States and join Major League Soccer. That never happened.

Instead, the part-time New Yorker has moved on from his apartment—at a huge loss.

We can’t feel too bad for Ronaldo, given that Forbes has ranked him as the third-highest-paid athlete in the world, with $120 million in earnings in 2021 alone.

Even so, no one likes to lose money. So how did this happen?

Pandemic pricing

From the get-go, the sky-high purchase price added to the challenge.

Initially, the player listed the lavish aerie for just under $9 million in 2019, less than half of what he had paid four years before.

In 2020, the price dropped to $7.99 million, and remained there until selling last November, at the even lower amount.

Part of the issue could have been the timing of the pandemic, which at first put a damper on the housing market, as well as on interested buyers.

“He definitely paid way too much. So that answers part of the question as to what the loss is,” says one luxury real estate specialist, Dolly Lenz, CEO and founder of Dolly Lenz Real Estate.

“Then, the perfect storm of COVID and bad luck,” Lenz adds, noting that New York real estate brokers were locked down and couldn’t show the property.