He was a player who have most followers and fans compared with another great player like messi or etc. that's why any news or rumour about him will be paying so many attention from his fans. Ronaldo has the biggest fan base in the world. Any rumour will attract traffic that will be coming from his fans.
I would not be surprised if ronaldo is always to be linked with some teams that played in the champion league caused by ronaldo wants to play in the champion league team. I doubt that if any clubs that currently participated in the champion league wanna try to let him join.
It seems like all of teams now abandoned him, he has no choice other than try to be paticen and realize his situation.
I do agree that he is one of the greatest players of all time. I am not saying he is THE greatest, but one of the greatest, because I do agree that there are few others. But, looking at his awards and statistics, I could easily say that he is one of the best without a doubt. This dude has played for so long and now he is aging and currently may not be the greatest ever but we should realize that his entire career looks like he is one of the best.
Scoring more goals than anyone else is a big deal just by himself, and that should tell you how good but also how consistent he is as well. That is why I believe that we shouldn't be shocked with everything.