Manchester United won’t sell Ronaldo for less than 40m
On one hand, Real Madrid is not the same force as before – the mammoth that lured Zidane and Barcelona Figo to the Bernabeu is a limping, whimpering animal with no brawn to back its bark.
On the other hand, Real Madrid have a lot of money and Ronaldo is known to want to play for Real or Barcelona in the future.
Last year there was a greater danger that Ronaldo would leave Manchester United – this year there’s no crisis at Old Trafford, Manchester United have a good chance of winning the Premiership and a good chance of getting to the Champions League semifinals. Manchester United are also willing to throw a lot of money at Ronaldo.
However, Manchester United will refuse to be blackmailed by the young Portuguese – something Real Madrid are counting on. There ‘first move’ – a Marca piece that is manufactured to attract attention and get the fans talking – is nothing compared to what Real Madrid will do to get their player.
However, knowing Manchester United, and knowing Real Madrid, I know that there are only two people to blame here – Jorge Mendes (Ronaldo’s agent) and Calderon (the Real Madrid president).
Mendes has been pimping Ronaldo to Barcelona and Real Madrid for the last two seasons. Whether it is to get a big paycheck for himself or whether it’s a smokescreen to get Ronaldo a big fat contract, it puts pressure on Manchester United. And believe me, it’s not Ronaldo who’s going to be pushing United, it’ll be Mendes.
The fact that Mendes is also Mourinho’s agent has little to do with this, although you can never know for sure what goes on when agents meet clubs.
Calderon failed last summer to get his first-choice recruits, opting for Reyes instead of Robben, Emerson instead of Fabregas and bringing in Higuain in January instead of Ronaldo (and Gago when Emerson failed). He also failed to get Ashley Cole, forcing him to bring in Marcelo to replace Roberto Carlos.
Ironically, those three were solid buys with an eye to the future, and will prove to be good for Real Madrid. To cope with public pressure though, Real Madrid want a big signing – and Ronaldo fits the bill (especially as Fab’s heart is set on Barcelona).
Will Real Madrid get Ronaldo? I strongly doubt it. They will make the summer miserable for Manchester United fans though.
How much do you want to bet that Manchester United will move to report Real Madrid to Uefa for attempting to unsettle their player?
Topics: Cristiano Ronaldo, Football Transfers, Manchester United, Real Madrid
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United won’t report REAL for they won’t be bothered. Ronaldo will sign a new contract extension till 2012. REAL and most media pundits underestimate how happy the lad is at United, after the support they showed him as a club and from fans after the world cup. He is itching to sign a new contract….
March 16th, 2007 @ 19:39Ahmed you say man u wont sell for less than 40 million eh? Ronaldo wants to play for real madrid, and all he has to do is make it public and bye bye birdy. Remember when beckham went? i honestly thought he would be a hell of alot more than 25million at the time, he was on peak and would have died for any team he played for. Ronaldo should go, but if he did make it public it wouldnt be for 40 million, 30 maybe, and then he can dive for any team he plays for weather it be barca or real.
March 16th, 2007 @ 19:42Richard – comparing Ronaldo’s case with Beckham’s or Ruud’s is unrealistic. Beckham was being thrown out of Old Trafford, ditto with Ruud. Plus both players were 28 or above.
Ronaldo is very much wanted by Manchester United, and he’s 21.
If you think 30m is a good valuation, then add another 10 for paying United’s ‘tax’. And that too only if Ronaldo says he’ll leave United to play for a side that is out of the CL and will have to qualify for the CL the hard way (not the whole story, but an example of how facts can be twisted to suit the occasion).
March 16th, 2007 @ 19:46I know it’s a little old case, but Xavi said that Manchester United contacted his agent. MU said that they are not interested in signing him. So did MU contact his agent or not ?
March 16th, 2007 @ 20:49He’ll go for free in 2010 if he dosen’t extend his contract. Money isn’t an issue any more, trophies are.
March 16th, 2007 @ 20:51Real madrid are the footballing world’s biggest joke at the moment, the richest club on the planet who have won nothing in over four years, NOTHING. I think Ronaldo is smart enough to realize that Real Madrid isn’t the type of club that really focuses on developing the players and their future, for that reason I think he will stay with United for at least another two years, if he leaves, it will more likely be for Barca who do win things.
March 17th, 2007 @ 06:05The latest ‘news’ coming out of the Guardian is that Ronaldo as has asked for 140k/week and that United have turned it down (while Madrid will be happy to pay it now that Becks is leaving).
1) The Guardian is working on rumours and making this shit up
2) Jorge Mendes is responsible for negotiations, and it’s not hard to believe that he’d act like a cunt after his constant ‘pimping’ of Ronaldo to Barca and Real. However, 140k is too much, and I really doubt that Ronaldo would knowingly ask for that much. If he has, he’s an idiot.
3) If this is true, Manchester United are right to turn his wage demands down.
4) Ronaldo leaving for free in 2010? If Manchester United will a trophy or two this season, I’d like to see how much Ronaldo can go for. He will be unstoppable in the ‘slower’ La Liga where he will have more time on the ball, but he didn’t have Giggs, Rooney and Scholes to play with in Portugal and he won’t have such players in Real Madrid.
Who do you see Ronaldo linking up with at Real? Raul? Ruud? Robinho?
If we’re talking about quality of football, Ronaldo would rather go to Barcelona where he can link up with Deco, Ronaldinho and Eto’o.
5) Once again, why are we being fed baseless rumours?
6) This will go on all summer. By the end of it, I swear, when Ronaldo is still at Manchester United I will do a public protest against the Guardian for printing lies – I have respected and supported their sports blogs and news reporting for over an year but their theatrical conversion from honest reporting to a subtle and clever version of NOTW and Sun is disgusting. This isn’t the first time they’ve done this – they’ve gotten worse and worse in the last year.
Of course, if he’s gone, they’ll be laughing their way to the bank…
March 17th, 2007 @ 08:47I stated in an earlier comment that I thought that Mendes’ position was a conflict of interests – his and Ronaldos. Ronaldo has publicly stated that he has no desire to leave United but that he would like to play in Spain at some stage in his career. Any footballer worthy of the name wants to test himself at the top level in the Premiership, La Liga, or Serie A, but while he is young, the premiership offers him the most exciting and fast flowing football and is more suited to his particular style of play. Mendes is just after the fattest pay cheque he can get – regardless of his clients wishes. Though as I said earlier, Ronaldo is his employer and has the option of telling him to shut the F”ck up and stop pimping him around Europe to the highest bidder.
March 17th, 2007 @ 16:33I agree that Ronaldo has a debt of honour to the United fans for their (usual) unflinching support and I think he will repay that support. If he looks at his options in La Liga in the cold light of day, he has the choice of a decaying giant and a team being torn apart by internal troubles – at the moment neither is a great option for an up and coming young player. I also think United have shot themselves in the foot, by bulling up Ronaldo “Best player in Premiership” “Best player in the world” as this weakens their position at the negotiating table and gives Mendes the ammunition to demand “best player in the world wages”. Ronaldo has the ability to become the greatest player in the world and is approaching greatness now, but he is not the finished article, there is still work to be done. I think he struggles at times against more technical and tactical teams in the Champions League and he can still be bullied out of a game, if things dont go his way his head goes and starts flinging his arms up in the air and moaning at the ref instead of becoming more determined. I hope he stays at OT for many more years and becomes a world great with United, but unfortunately, I don’t think he will be here for the rest of his career.
Ashley Cole was never a target of Real Madrid this summer. Marcelo is a completely another deal.
Cristiano Ronaldo offered his services to Real Madrid but they declined so to suggest that Higuain is just there because the number one target could not be bought is just silly.
March 18th, 2007 @ 02:31Cristiano ronaldo was originaly not a target for ramon calderon.
March 18th, 2007 @ 02:59^ That is true but after Ronaldo started performing good the first part of this season, Real Madrid took real interrest in him but that was really dumb because his price has gone up now.
Real Madrids best chance of signing him was when he offered his services to them directly but they were silly enough to decline it.
March 18th, 2007 @ 03:28My bad – Calderon was after Kaka, not Ronaldo.
Villar Mir, the other presidential candidate (who lost to Calderon in last summer’s elections) had pledged Wenger and Ronaldo as signings as part of his campaign promise. Wenger’s connection was bogus, but contact was made with Ronaldo, mainly because of Ronaldo’s agent’s willingness to listen to other offers and to discuss them with his client.
About Ashley Cole – that’s a matter of debate – there were rumours, but it was clear that Madrid were looking for a replacement for R Carlos.
Would like to correct whoever it was that said that Ronaldo ‘offered’ his services – it was his agent, not Ronaldo, doing the offering. Ronaldo’s offer wasn’t declined, United just werent willing to listen to any such crap and refused all inquiries that came their way about Ronaldo.
March 18th, 2007 @ 03:58Ahmed .. There is something you have missed then because Ronaldo himself said that he wanted to going Real Madrid. His excact words were:
“After what happened with Rooney I can’t remain there. In a couple of days I will have my future sorted out and I want to go to Real Madrid,”
To be honest it has been difficult to think about continuing in England. They’re making a storm in a teacup. It’s difficult to return to a country where you’re not welcome.”
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http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1807020,00.html
March 18th, 2007 @ 04:44Redondo
I remember exactly what I happened because I was covering the story day by day here on Soccerlens last summer.
Here’s the full chain of events for you:
Before the Eng vs Portugal quarter-final, there were rumours of interest from Real Madrid, which Ronaldo confirmed. This was then learned to be as a result of direct contact between Jorge Mendes and Villar Mir, the other presidential candidate.
During that same time Mendes had also pimped Ronaldo to Barcelona, who had refused Ronny because they wanted to go after Henry (this is what Mendes said in an interview recently).
Eng v Portugal qtr final, the media goes ape-shit on Ronaldo, Ronaldo flips and starts talking about leaving England. Funny enough, half of his interviews cannot be corroborated because they are made up by Marca (who are attributing all quotes to Mendes, incidentally).
Villar Mir loses, Calderon is in power and talks about signing Kaka, Robben and Fabregas.
Capello comes on board, says he’s interested in Ronaldo but that they’ll have to see.
Madrid fail to sign their primary targets, and United close down the Ronaldo option by backing him completely on and off the pitch and getting him to stay.
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I’m not saying that Ronny didn’t want to leave last summer. All I’m saying is that before you make the claim that Ronaldo threw himself at Real and Barca, get all the facts. His agent was pulling the strings, as he is now.
March 18th, 2007 @ 11:51“On one hand, Real Madrid is not the same force as before – the mammoth that lured Zidane and Barcelona to the Bernabeu is a limping, whimpering animal with no brawn to back its bark.”
how did real madrid lure “barcelona” to the bernabeu?
March 19th, 2007 @ 06:34I think if United win the EPL, then maybe they will sell Ronaldo, if they by some chance win the CL, then they will definitley sell Ronaldo. As harsh and shitty as it may seem, you guys need to remember that United is there to win some trophies firstly in order to make a profit. Ronaldo’s 40-50 mil pounds will go a long way towards paying off United’s HUGE debt. United is a business. No business can be sustainable or profitable for as long as it is in debt.
March 19th, 2007 @ 13:01razorhead – hehe, my bad. I meant Figo…
Karl – Ronaldo is young, his value will increase. It’s not Henry, who’s reaching 30 and will never fetch more than 30m after last season
March 19th, 2007 @ 18:26c.ronaldo is a freind of my brother and he is not shure what he is going to do yet but he is happy at man u
March 31st, 2007 @ 18:14