Manchester United and Alex Ferguson have a battle on their hands to keep Cristiano Ronaldo at Old Trafford. The winger’s agent is due to meet Ferguson today for showdown talks and with Ronaldo’s recent comments claiming that Manchester United did not defend him, Fergie will have to do his best to get Ronaldo back.

Ruud’s been continuously linked with Bayern Munich, and with the media now ‘catching up’ to the idea that Owen Hargreaves might be an option (instead of Michael Carrick, whose arrival looks less certain now) a ’swap’ deal is being mooted. Possible, but unlikely. Nistelrooy will probably not be sold as Manchester United’s priority this season is the midfield and selling Ruud means buying another striker - Torres is way too expensive now for United to buy him, and while pairing two young strikers up front (Torres and Rooney) would be ideal, Saha and Rooney (or Nistelrooy and Rooney) form a great partnership already.

Still, stranger things have happened. A lot of this will hinge on what happens with Ronaldo.

On the midfielder front, it appears Manchester United might be close to signing Marcos Senna for a 3.5 mil deal. Once again, no word from either teams so I doubt this is true - United need a big midfielder and while Senna might be good, he’s not Gattuso or Mascherano good. And the fans need - deserve - someone that good coming in.

More tomorrow as the Ronaldo situation becomes clearer. The new kit design floating around on the net is still a fake…wait for it guys, only 4 more days till they launch it.