Do Manchester United have a case against Real Madrid over Ronaldo?
Manchester United have ‘officially’ complained to Fifa over Real Madrid’s alleged ‘tapping-up’ of Cristiano Ronaldo.
The complaint consists of a set of documents outlining United’s concerns over Real Madrid’s approach. Under Fifa rules (explained below) there isn’t any set punishment if (and it’s a BIG IF) Real Madrid are found to be in the wrong in this case, but it does signal United’s intent to ward off interest from Madrid in their star player.
Let’s set aside personal biases here for a second – the ABU (Anything But United) brigade will claim that the Ronaldo situation is just rewards for the club’s past sins, while those partial to United will call this blatant cheating on Madrid’s part. Myself, I’m torn between the desire to push Madrid away, disappointment at Ronaldo’s inability to commit his future and admiration for Real Madrid’s methods (they tend to get who they want, more often than not).
So nothing personal here. The question that stands out for me is:
Have Madrid done anything wrong that Fifa can ‘discipline’ them for?
Most of the attention is being focused on Article 18, which states:
18.3 – A club intending to conclude a contract with a professional must inform the player’s current club in writing before entering into negotiations with him. A professional shall only be free to conclude a contract with another club if his contract with his present club has expired or is due to expire within six months. Any breach of this provision shall be subject to appropriate sanctions.
Now let’s look at what Manchester United have said over this complaint:
“On 27 May, United made clear its intention to report Real Madrid if it continued to involve itself in the future of Ronaldo. Unfortunately, Real Madrid has not kept its own counsel.
The club feels it has no alternative but to make a formal complaint to the world governing body, which it has done today.”
Nothing in United’s public statement indicates that Madrid have made a direct approach to Ronaldo and offered him a contract – something that would effectively constitute as a violation of the above-quoted Fifa regulation and subject Real Madrid to sanctions.
For Madrid to ‘contact the player’ directly, they’d need to inform United in writing. One would assume, considering United’s complaint, that Madrid have NOT informed United and gone ahead and offered Ronaldo a contract through his agent and agitated the player to an extent that he has, in an interview directly attributed to him (but not recorded live on TV or on audio, so there’s no definitive proof), said that he’d like to play for Madrid if they can match United’s valuation.
The most United have done so far is to accuse Real Madrid of being ‘immoral’, which is hardly considered as cheating or breaking the rules. And as some Madrid fans have rightly pointed out, a lot of the ‘chasing’ has been through the press with Calderon (mainly) talking to the press about Ronaldo (once you plant the seeds, the reporters keep asking you the same questions every time) and at every opportunity pointing out that Madrid want him, which has led to a lot of speculation about contracts and offers.
My bet is that United’s complaint has little to do with Article 18 and a whole lot to do with Madrid’s ‘conduct’, specifically in making comments to the press (even as answers to questions) about a player whose registration United holds. United are appealing on moral grounds, which to me doesn’t seem like much of a leg to stand on.
If they have a stronger case than that, I’d be surprised (and also happy) – and it would certainly mean that Madrid are legally in the wrong and therefore liable for some sort of punishment. Having said that, what type of punishment would Fifa deliver? A fine for 50k euros? Million euros? Fifa would not award any significant penalties so Madrid have little to worry about even if they’ve done something wrong.
But if Fifa can use this case to amend their regulations and specifically regulate the role of agents in these transfer situations, then we have some hope (because in such matters it’s the agent ‘passing the notes’ and so on). Not that it’s going to happen…
Nice summary of the current status quo. What I don’t get is what United actually hope to achieve throuugh a complaint to FIFA. If, as you suggest, it’s not a violation of Article 18, then I cannot see a complaint to FIFA having any effect whatsoever. Manchester United have been a pragmatic club in the past. If CR is worth keeping at any price, then they need to do what it takes to keep him. If, as I suspect, no player is above the club, then it’s in their best interests to make as much out of the transaction as possible.
Indeed, Man U’s complaints are more moral than legal, but unfortunately that won’t hold up against FIFA’s legalistic approach to these matters. This has happened thousands of times between clubs, so I don’t really see why it’s such a big deal this time. Although, Man U are usually not the one’s defending their rights to one of their if you catch my drift. I think responsibility for this primarily lies on the shoulder of Cristiano Ronaldo himself. Let’s face it, he has always been awfully public about his desires to play in Spain. He also point-blank refused to silence the rumors about his future away from Man U. It’s about time that Man U got a taste of their own medicine, though. Yes, Real Madrid went through a Galacticos era which was not our finest hour, but since then we’ve changed. I don’t personally see the great need for a Ronaldo on Real Madrid in the first place. Of course, all that the Spanish media has reported on this matter was entirely inappropriate, but you can’t just pin that on a club and expect FIFA to believe you. For once a Man U player is the one being preyed upon and the media isn’t on Man U’s side. Lol.
By the way, you can’t call me an ABU because I happen to hate Barcelona most of all.
I believe the situation here is that Real Madrid have not contacted Ronaldo to negotiate a contract. So they say they have done nothing wrong. The peculiar thing about Real Madrid is the link they have with La Marca. They have used this paper to tell Ronaldo what salary and comercial terms they will (allegedly) offer and what transfer fee they are willing to pay. That is, if you believe 300K per week and 50% of his image rights and 75M transfer. In any case they are telling him he will get a big pay rise. Next minute all the papers and web sites have the story. Of course Real will say it is just rumours in the papers but we all know they put them there. Real will say they haven’t contacted Ronaldo and they will be right but when you broadcast your intentions like this to everyone it also includes the player.
Since Real have not yet contacted Man Utd, they haven’t had the chance to formally say, “not for sale, go away”. Real will say to FIFA that all they said was “it would be good to buy Ronaldo but he’s a Man Utd player”. They know Ronaldo is interested in moving sometime and they are using that knowledge to make it now. They know they will get a NO from Man Utd so they simply want Ronaldo to put in a transfer request. My worry is that if he does that Real will be able to negotiate a low fee.
Nope
Do Liverpool have a chance of winning the league next year like they always say they will? NOPE.
Do United have a case against RM over Ronaldo? Well that will depend on the content of the complaint submitted to FIFA which they have said is confidencial. Surely they must have some legal basis for going to such measures. Even if RM think they aren’t doing anything wrong, they also haven’t stopped using the media’s influence to publicly and repeatedly make their desire to sign Ronaldo known, especially when it’s working in their favour, and just as United complain they are just “rumours”.
FIFA never do anything, let alone in favour of an English club. They’d love to see United fall on their asses and will do what is necessary for this to happen.
If I’m the President of Real Madrid and I hire a reporter and tell him to ask me at every press conference what I think of Ronaldo for me to answer in admiration then there isn’t much FIFA can do. This is a bit what this story is about. Real Madrid haven’t contacted Ronaldo [unless you believe the Sun], they have simply talked about a player they admire.
And as much as it pains me to say this, there’s nothing we can do to stop them flirting with Ronaldo.
Thank you for writting this article. It explains the situation nicely.
I never said we have a chance
I said we WILL win the league!! Even with a 20million transfer budget
Hala Madrid! You deserve Ronaldo!
£100 million please. Get Quaresma. £75 million still to spend…..
Cynics would say what goes around comes around!
if i were sir alex i would sell ronaldo
man u are in 700 million dollar debt.
if they choose to keep ronaldo they are, well bankrupt
if they sell ronaldo to madrid which will earn them around 100mil and they sell rooney for maybe 50
thats 150 gone..
i rekn that they should
and yes cos i am a real supporter
ronaldo shouldn’t do this because united is his home
the entire battle for CR may indeed turn out to be a publicity stunt…….
all this racket about christiano is utterly ridiculous, i mean becoz granted CR has scored alot of goals for us but if he wants to go that bad let him, and anyway i dont see him reaching the same heigths of form he did while at old trafford, same thing happened to beckham, and nistelroy(NOT SO MUCH FOR HIM THOUGH)
nope its all useless rumours. if ronaldo wants to destroy his carrrear like that of beckham than its upto him to destroy it. RM is just for pleasure not more than that but Manu is the lland of future for ronaldo becoz what he is now is the effort of the club otherwise……
will ronaldo live man united? if his living the team is the best, let All join hard and pray for the best of all.