Liar Liar – Real Madrid, the Media, Ronaldo or Manchester United?
We hear about the Real Madrid-Cristiano Ronaldo-Manchester United transfer saga every day, with different things said by the concerned parties, and a mountain of speculation written daily on Ronaldo’s future.
If various ‘news’ publications are to be believed, Real Madrid will pay 100m Euros and send over half the Real Madrid starting lineup to secure Ronaldo’s services, and THEN pay him all their combined wages as well. It’s ridiculous, but that’s the press for you.
Then there is Manchester United who are saying that ‘keeping quiet’ is the best way to deal with the situation. I humbly disagree, and I suspect Ferguson, Quieroz and Gill disagree as well.
In an ideal world Quieroz and Ronaldo’s Manchester United teammates would be able to convince him to stay, but as things are, he’s keeping his own counsel and hasn’t been talking to his club or teammates about Real Madrid. He’s done everything either on his own or through his agent, which apparently also involves getting a verbal offer secured from Real Madrid (but nothing on paper as that would legally put Real Madrid in a bind – not that Fifa would have done anything, just as they haven’t done anything when they got enough circumstantial evidence to suggest that Real Madrid had illegally approached Ronaldo).
When United say that Ronaldo is not for sale, they’re lying. Ronaldo IS for sale, because he wants to go and Ferguson knows that forcefully keeping a player who wants to leave is bad for club morale. He’s convinced Ronaldo and Ruud in the past but this year he’s definitely for sale, the question is whether Real can match United’s valuation or not. If they can’t, he’ll probably stay another season, although I find it unlikely.
Ronaldo claims that he wants to fulfill his dream. Is his dream to become the highest paid footballer on the planet? As someone put it expertly – in which universe is Real Madrid a ’step forward’ from Manchester United?
Real Madrid are lying when they say they haven’t used the press to their advantage or contacted Ronaldo directly. They HAVE – officially or unofficially – used Marca to leak news stories and deliberately answered leading questions in such a way as to further fuel speculation. They HAVE – unofficially – made their offer known to Ronaldo and shared compensation details with him, even if nothing has been agreed.
Liars, the whole lot of them, but all for their own reasons. Funnily enough, the primary motivation behind these lies, the tie that binds, is money. The media make more money by feeding the Ronaldo frenzy, Ronaldo gets more money from Madrid or a better contract offer from United, United hold out to get as much money as possible and Real Madrid want Ronaldo to profit from image rights and at the same time don’t want to pay too much for him.
Player power is just a consequence of football’s perceived problems – the real source is the emotional escapism that football provides, which fuels its popularity which in turn brings in people looking to make money off it.
Actually Ahmed, its is perfectly legal for Real Madrid to approach Ronaldo and discuss terms with him under FIFA rules IF Real Madrid let Manchester United know through a official letter. With or without Man United permission.
Obviously we don’t know if Calderon & Co have done this but if they have they can sit in open Cafe in Madrid in daylight and discuss terms in front of the world press and it would be perfectly legal.
I have question for you as a Manchester United supporter though… Do you guys really want your club to hold on to Ronaldo after all what happened?
Yes Redondo, I’m aware of that ruling. Calderon has said however, that he has NOT talked to Manchester United about Ronaldo. This would suggest that they haven’t sent the official letter. Plus if they had sent a letter, United would probably not have sent the complaint to Fifa.
Discussed the letter thing 2 weeks back here: Do Manchester United have a case against Real Madrid over Ronaldo?
Good article.
The one thing I don’t get in this whole saga is Cristiano’s motivation (I don’t like calling him plain Ronaldo, that one already played for Real). Given how much money he makes already and will continue to make in his career even if he stays put at United for the remainder of it, what is the lure of even more money?
If, as you suggest, it’s the ego-trip of being the most expensive transfer and the best paid footballer on the planet, it really doesn’t reflect very well on his character, and makes me more worried about how hard he will be to manage next season (whoever ends up with him)
I’m happy for him to go if he’s going to disrupt the club / team harmony. On the other hand, if he can commit himself to United for another year, then he should stay.
Good article, just to let you know that apparently Ronaldo has spoken to United and he will be back on 10th July for Pre-season
The press are having a field day and filling their papers with this saga. I suspect people are bored of the whole affair. The press made a howler by misinterpreting Ronaldo’s comment that he want to play in white for wanting to join Real Madrid, when in fact he plays in white for Portugal and oh yes…. Man United have a white kit too.
got to agree with the ‘in what universe are real a step up from united’ comment. i do not get why at 23 years of age ronaldo wants to leave a team that, as much as it pains me to say, could easily win the champions league again in the next 3 years? sure real will be a stronger outfit than man utd if he transfers to madrid but at the moment a man utd with ronaldo in it looks a much stronger team than a real with ronaldo would.
Although saying that, i hope he does go.
It seems Man U do not have the right skills of handling any of the best footballers. Ronaldo is leaving because every Man U person regards him as either a child or a fool. It is likely that he is not satisfied with his current contract terms and he believes that nobody was kind enough to talk about improvements. Moreover, most comments from the fans suggest that he will never be respected. This is a situation that may drive him back to Portugal or anywhere.
Wilfred, what are you talking about? Manutd have the best skills when it comes to handling its players. We keep thier egos in control, their minds focussed and bodies trained. When was the last time you heard a Man Utd player complaining about not playing first team football. Players like Nani, Anderson, Silvestre, Giggs, Hargreaves and Carrick are regularly benched. Manchester Utd and Arsenal have always made the best talent in the world, because our coaching and managerial staffs are so good. No wonder Real had to steal our Physio last year. Look at Wenger at Arsenal. He is about to lose Adebayor. Adebayor would’nt have been half as good at Real or Milan. You need stability to manage a club, not a musical chairs of managers every year. And that is the reason english clubs are doing so good in the CL.
Mr.Wilfred, please take of your blinkers and smell the coffee. Before throwing the man management s**t at United, REMEMBER: the greatest man manager is at United, SAF. And where did big egos like King Eric and Roy Keane reach thier full potential?
And again, whats that s**t about Ronaldo not haapy with his contract? He signed a brand new 5 year contract just a year back and no club in world would deem it fit to renew it in an year. And god forbid such day comes too, when contracts are renewed year on year based on performance. So what if Ronaldo scores only 10 goals next season, then will he agree for a pay reduction. Contracts are called contracts cuz they need to be honoured by both parties.
And United fans didn’t start questioning Ronaldo’s attitude out of the blue. And no one’s called him a child or a fool, just questioned his loyalty and motives in not putting to bed this whole issue.
And Ronaldo going back to Portugal. Ha Ha Ha. Wait till he hears of this!
Wilfred,
You have to be nuts to think that any player deserves special attention. Football teams are that…teams. A good manager/club does not give special treatment to any one player : at least not formally. If they do that, it creates many problems for the team. Yes, Ronaldo is an outstanding player, but he is so because of his teammates as much as his skills. How often have we seen great players lose form due to different playing styles when they change clubs?
And if you think Ronaldo deserves a new contract, see what Man Utd have to say (or consult a lawyer)
“A contract is a valid and legally binding document. If you are going to demand a new one every six months or so, what is the point in signing it in the first place? So there will be no new contract as far as Ronaldo is concerned.”
Dear Man U friends, thinking that no player is a special staris a good theory,but its cost is to lose special stars to Real Madrid or Chelsea, where individual stardom draws better rewards. You are trying to convince Ronaldo that he is not the best because you cannot think about how to offer him the best. Man U can win more trophies in future without him, but think about these three facts:
1.If(WHEN) you lose any of your current trophies without him, or with him on the bench, you will call him a star.
2.Sir Alex Ferguson is too old to recruit new talents and reclaim the two trophies before his retirement.
3. The immediate replacement for Ronaldo is Ricardo Quaresma.
I usually agree with the writer of this article but on this i disagree, the main reason is because i believe ronaldo will stay on another season or 2, then complete his dream of playing real. Scolari has denied ever saying that he was told by ronaldo that he wanted to fulfill his dream, and in an interview he was asked if he cared that he might upset united fans by leaving and he said “a few good goals and they’ll forget all about it” however you wish to interpret that. In addition to this i do believe united are honest when they say they do not want to sell him, just to protect the club’s image, since we are the richest club in the world they do not want to be viewed as a selling club, as well as that even if they would accept a bid of 70 million, they know that it would be close to impossible for real to cough up that much money for one player even if it is ronaldo…
Som
It is true that Man U treat well the players in all those aspects, until they are eligible for the best footballer of the year, or somewhere within the best five. Ronaldo is the finest product of Ferguson’s Ronaldo, Nani, Anderson, Silvestre, Hargreaves, Carrick,Rooney etc five year investment. Ferguson does not have time to repeat such investment. Moreover, and watch out, if anyone among those others attains Ronaldo’s qualities, he will be needed by Real Madrid, or Chelsea, anybody with more than the 120,000.
Wilfred : Nani, Anderson and Hargeaves have been there 1 year, and Carrick only 2. And Silvestre 9 years. The fact you you think Silvestre is part of some five year talent investment proves what I gathered from reading your previous posts. You don’t know a lot about football.
I think when Ronaldo goes to Madrid, you’ll see what every United supporter knows. He needs people doing his leg work. Without Rooney and Tevez choosing to pass more often than shoot, his goal tally will decrease. United will score more goals around the team. The same thing happened when Ruud was disposed of.
Dear Chris,
I was just implying that there is always something in place before and after any investment. By the way, the average of 1 plus 2 plus 9 is around 5.As for your other view, please revise this from no. 12 above: You are trying to convince Ronaldo that he is not the best because you cannot think about how to offer him the best.
Wilfred is baiting you guys and you’re falling for it. Jeez…
Agreed with Chris Traverse that United will score more goals around the team.
Ahmed, you make some good points but to disregard the non economical advantages for ronaldo of moving to real madrid is ridiculous. “In which universe is Real Madrid a ’step forward’ from Manchester United?” Only man U fans can be so oblivious. Im not going to list the individual reasons as obviously if i did it would escalate into a boring debate, but for you to not even consider or accept other reasons isv actualy quite dilusional.
What’s the deal with the delayed ankle surgery? Apparently, it was his top priority immediately after Portugal’s exit from the Euros. Now, he’s on holiday in Sardinia. Wouldn’t you think that he’d want that situation taken care of immediately so that he could heal in time for preseason training? Regardless of where he’ll be doing that training…
UNITED!
“Since we are the richest club in the world they do not want to be viewed as a selling club”. Well, Ferguson once said that, but has the club established a retention policy that can keep away the buying clubs? If your fences are loose you lose without being willing to sell.