A 24-year-old Portuguese who grew up in a tin-roofed shack exchanged a red shirt for a white one yesterday — and planet football shifted on its axis.

Real Madrid, the world’s richest club, lavished £80 million to acquire Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United, the world’s second-richest club, and sent a shiver through the global game.

The record-breaking transfer will make Ronaldo one of the world’s best-paid athletes, with a £107 million contract over six years. The details, still being finalised, are eye-watering: he is expected to earn £9.5 million in the first year, rising 25 per cent a year to £29 million — a weekly wage of £557,000. That is 33 times more than the average Spaniard earns in a year.

However, his deal is still not enough to break him into sport’s top five earners. Tiger Woods, the American golfer, topped the Forbes Rich List with earnings of £60 million in 2007, followed by David Beckham, who amassed £25 million in the same year.

The capture of Ronaldo robs the Premier League of its best player — and threatens its status as the world’s most exciting club competition.

Real Madrid had already broken the transfer record this week by signing the best player in the Italian league — the Brazilian Kaká — for £56 million.

The fantasy-football spending spree marks a return of the much-criticised galáctico, or superstar, era at Real. It has already attracted the disapproval of Michel Platini, the Uefa chief executive: “These transfers are a serious challenge to the idea of fair play and the concept of financial balance in our competitions. It is very puzzling at a time when football faces some of its worst ever financial challenges.” He promised to introduce transfer rules to “clean up the system”.

Florentino Pérez, Real’s newly returned president and the architect of the original galáctico line-up, which included David Beckham and Zinédine Zidane, is aiming to regain the club’s glamour status and overtake their rivals Barcelona, who were crowned kings of Europe last month after beating United in the Champions League final. If he gets his way — and Real’s financial structure does give him immense buying power — Ronaldo and Kaká could soon be joined by Franck Ribéry, the French Bayern Munich winger, and David Villa, the Valencia striker.

He hopes to recoup the outlay for Ronaldo by exploiting the player’s global appeal. According to the club, Beckham boosted its merchandise profits by 137 per cent during his four-year stay, especially in Asia where fans’ loyalty is driven more by the players than the teams they represent.

“To a fan in China or South America, Ronaldo is very big,” Tim Crow, director of Synergy Sponsor- ship, said.

Real Madrid, which is effectively a non-profit trust owned by its 80,000 members, has a good record in selling its brand around the world. About a third of its €400 million (£343 million) annual income comes from marketing and merchandising — a greater proportion than any other club. It also benefits from a lucrative television contract that guarantees it at least €150 million a season until 2012-13 and support from the banks and the Government.

Reports in Spain said that Banco Santander, owner of Abbey, had granted Real a €70 million credit line to facilitate the Ronaldo transfer, which will be paid in £20 million instalments over four years.

For United, who paid £12.4 million for Ronaldo in 2003, the deal is simply good business, a net profit of £68 million. Even though the club has debts of more than £600 million, which were accumulated after it was taken over by the Glazer family in 2005, Sir Alex Ferguson will use the money to replenish his squad. His imperative is keeping United in the Champions League. The competition, for which the top three English clubs qualify automatically, is worth about £30 million a year to United.

“The financing of debts will look after itself so long as they’re pulling in Champions League money,” said Vinay Bedi, an analyst at the stockbrokers Brewin Dolphin.

Ronaldo’s move underlines the position of England and Spain as the powerhouses of world football. Some say that it represents a weakening of the Premier League, heralding an exodus of players to a more lenient Spanish tax system, while others argue that there will be a reverse flow.

Ronaldo’s boyhood dream was to play for Real Madrid. Faced with standing in his way, United came to a quick decision to let him go.

“Fans will regret his going but it’s not the end of civilisation as we know it. Real have been nicking our best players for years,” said Michael Crick, the political editor of Newsnight and a United supporter.

Ronaldo was photographed celebrating his transfer by drinking champagne with Paris Hilton, the socialite heiress, and her sister Nicky at a Hollywood nightclub. He later visited the sisters at a house in the Hollywood Hills, leaving three hours later at 5am.

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