Manchester United: Ronaldo being setup by the press
First, the press attributed false quotes to Scolari, changing statements to make it sound like Scolari had said that Ronaldo should leave Manchester United and head for Barcelona.
Then, the Portugal squad were raided for inside stories after the Portugal v Brazil friendly earlier this month and Hugo Viana jumped at the bait. I’m going to bother copy-pasting Viana’s quotes (you can read them directly off this Sun article), but here’s the gist:
- Viana doesn’t rate Manchester United as a bigger club than Real Madrid or Barcelona
- Ronaldo knows about the interest in him
- Viana thinks that Ronaldo would like to come to Spain
- Viana thinks that if Madrid or Barca come calling, you cannot say no
Fascinating, but ultimately no substance. We all know Ronaldo would eventually want to play in Spain, just like Rossi would eventually want to play in Italy. Yes, if Madrid and Barca come calling, you listen.
But so what? Manchester United have Ronaldo on a better deal than he deserves, probably, and will surely match or beat whatever Barca is willing to offer. Money is not the issue here, and Ronaldo is well settled in Manchester United, PLUS he has a long time in his career so he can afford to spend a few more years here before going to Spain, and to top it off, isn’t it Ronaldo’s agent who is pitching him to other clubs and the press jumping on the story to beat it beyond existence?
Manchester United put a ‘gagging order’ on Ronaldo to prevent him from talking about the speculation – a good move. It would be best if United let the press do their yapping, announced that Hargreaves had been signed and then issued a statement in which Ronny came out and said he wasn’t leaving.
Of course, if he’s actually leaving, things will take on a very different complexion.
But right now, it’s Ronny’s agent and the press milking us fans with their bullshit.
Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United
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all this speculation surrounding Ronaldo is a deliberate attempt to unsettle United and try and derail our quest for domestic and European glory. we should not even dignify it by commenting on it. I for one would be interested to see if Viana was paid for giving his interview to the sun. the only interview of relevance is the one Ronaldo gave 442 magazine where he stated he was happy at United. as for the nonsence in the paper, i would rather be uninformed then misinformed and i refuse to get upset over the hype. i believe there are sinsiter hidden agendas behind all the stories.
February 16th, 2007 @ 18:43All that crap Viana said about United not being on the level of Barca or Real, just imagine if United said they were interested in Viana, (ITS NEVER GONNA HAPPEN ITS JUST AN EXAMPLE) he would be licking the red off of United’s ass. Its just as Donie said, its all an attempt to unsettle Ronnie and United by all this bullcrap. At the end of the day I agree with you Ahmed in the terms that Ronnie has a long career ahead of him and that he is likely to stay at United for a good few years.
February 16th, 2007 @ 18:59As an all out United fan Ronnie has been my favourite player for united this season and I’m really liking his football, but at the end of the day he has his own decision to make and I don’t want him to ever leave, but its his life and we should let him choose what he wants to do next.
Ronaldo himself said he wanted to leave Manchester United for Real Madrid several times so all these reports are no “shot in the dark”.
The thing is, why should Manchester United put a ‘gag order’ on Ronaldo, he could have come out and dismissed the stories once and for all but its obvious that he does not want to burn any bridges by dissmising Real Madrid or Barcelona.
February 16th, 2007 @ 21:57As I had said, starting with that rag NOTW, it’s all drummed up BS. And I don’t think Ronaldo is being equivocal about his future because of the fear of dismissing Madrid or Barca. My hunch points me to that cunt of an agent Jorge Mendes who is trying to broker an insane deal with United. Neville couldn’t have been more right when he said that the agents should be wiped out of the game, a sweeping remark but nonetheless very relevant today.
February 16th, 2007 @ 22:08And yeah, don’t you think the media build-up in general is going down a familiar path? Once we win the title, it will be us getting the tag of the most hated club back from the Blues. Not that we deserve it or the Russian money’s suddenly become clean. Just plain media secretly grudging our success.
February 16th, 2007 @ 22:13How on earth do you know what Ronaldo wants
February 16th, 2007 @ 23:11[Dan]
February 17th, 2007 @ 03:35Ronaldo has made no secret of his intentions to play in Spain someday. It’s a question of when. But what we do know is that he has neither denied nor agreed with the rumors. What we also know is that his agent has been speaking to the media about offering Ronaldo to either of the Spanish giants (depending on which tabloid you read). The fact of the matter is, just like in the past, this kind of uncertain environment is just the right kind of fodder for the media.
This paticular agent, Jorge Mendes is a real pig. Hes probably already made a shopping list with a new car and some bling for his wife on it etc. He has just exploited and taken advantage of Ronaldo, as he knows Ronaldo (as Red Ranter said)wants to play in Spain in the future. Mendes knows hes gonna make serious bucks, and thats all he cares about. Ronaldo himself has said he is happy at United and he wants to leave his presence behind before he leaves. And of course if you want to leave your presence on a team you have to have a good few successful years there, which he is working on now. Its inevitable he will leave, but I strongly believe it will be in a couple of years, unless he does a Luis Figo job (when he left Barca after saying hes happy there).
February 17th, 2007 @ 18:27my question is very simple, folks…who in Christ’s name are Viana, Deco, even Ruud, and all these “Einsteins” who seem to have so much to say ’bout C-Ron and/or Man Utd?…i mean, Ruud wasn’t even on good terms with C-Ron when he left the club for Madrid…but he’d love to play with him all of a sudden?…hilarious, ain’t it?…seems to me Ruud’s just bitter ’bout his leaving Utd, but that’s what he wanted (or thought he did)…C-Ron should consider this…why would Ruud, who claims Real is so much bigger and oozes all the mystique in soccer, still be gutted by Utd letting him leave?..nothing to say ’bout Deco and Viana…they r baits for the media…
February 17th, 2007 @ 18:45I still believe (if he wants to go), that the best sollution might be to arrange a season-long “loan-exchange” deal with Barca for Ronaldo vs Ronaldinho (or Messi). This way, everybody win (except the agent perhaps)
February 19th, 2007 @ 15:50