The truth behind the Robinho-Ronaldo swap story
Robinho (speaking to Portuguese paper A Bola):
“I have never hidden away my wish to remain at Real Madrid, but if the interest is serious I will have no problem leaving Real Madrid as the interest from Manchester United and Chelsea makes me very proud.
There are proposals, yes.
One is from Manchester United which would be in exchange for Cristiano Ronaldo and the other is from Chelsea.”
Raise your hand if you think this is a story planted by Real Madrid in the press, a la Marca. You’re probably wrong, so raise your other hand if you think Calderon / Madrid are lying to Robinho about the interest from Manchester United. All of you? Even at the back? Thought so…
For starters, Madrid is my second club after United, so in ordinary circumstances you’d think I’d let this one go. But bullshit is bullshit, whether it’s Fergie claiming that the Glazers will sit Ronaldo in the stands for 4 years, or it’s PSG claiming that they have a chance to pry away Wenger, or it’s Kenyon backing Grant in public days before sacking him (and really, sacking him, as opposed to ‘termination by mutual consent’).
So now Madrid are claiming that United have offered to swap Ronaldo for Robinho. My my, what a bargain deal!
More likely, it’s United asking for 100m+ and Robinho in exchange for Ronaldo - Robinho replacing the player and the 100m going a long way to reinforce the squad. If push comes to shove, and if Ronaldo really wants to go, a money+player exchange is the way United would be most likely to go.
United don’t want Robinho - they have Nani progressing and Ronaldo in the form of his life. They already have two midgets playing up front. What they want is a younger and more committed Ruud. Robinho would be 10-20% of the compensation United expect if they let go of Ronaldo.
I feel sorry for Robinho, he’s being yanked around in the press for no rhyme or reason. Chelsea want him but can’t have him (unless they send Drogba their way) - United don’t want him but will take him if Madrid send enough money along with him. He’s tactfully keeping his options open by saying the interest is flattering, so he knows he’ll need to move eventually.
As for Madrid? Take Ronny, keep Robinho and send us 200m. See you in the Champions League next year too.
Well said Ahmed, if Ronny is so set to go to Madrid let’s unload him, get ample compensation(100-150m euros) and rebuild! Honestly I can’t see him reproducing his form next year with Madrid or Manchester for that matter.
No player is worth 200M
£60M give or take i would say
and i would love to keep both of them for the sake of Madrid, but it seems very unlikely.
robinho is a far better player… ronaldo is brill when there is space .. but robinho (and messi) can beat players in tight situations ie exactly the type of player needed in the top end games. also ronaldo is over valued while robinho is undervalued and will thrive under ferguson
It’s about time Utd fought back in this pathetic war… I’d recommend acting in a similar way to how Villa did when Liverpool began tapping up Barry.
Tell them they can have Ronaldo, in exchange for £50m + robinho + ramos + casillas. See how they like that idea.
@Jay
Sneijder + Robinho + Ramos + Casillas + £100m … that’s a fair price. I think Fergie should slap that on the table and force the issue with Madrid. Let’s see those muy macho Spaniards dare to take the offer.
Honestly, it would be dumb for Ronaldo to take an offer from Real because of their royalty structure. He’s one of the best bankable faces and to have 40-50% of that going to Real should put him off. If he’s willing to take that, then he’ll join Becks at the LA Galaxy in about 4 years.
Robben is a real wonder boy whom Fergie wanted.
I think the deal should be £50m + ramos + casillas + robben.
i heard about all this before, but the only players who can potentially replace ronaldo are quaresma, nani, or messi. i dont see why ronaldo would leave united and take a step ‘down’ in the football world. barca this season were not worthy opponents
Are some of you people really serious about those counter offers? $100 million, $50 million plus players like Ramos, Casillas, Robben. No player who has or ever will live will ever be able to command those types of figures. Yes i understand the Ronaldo has won just about everything there is to win this year, but some of you people are just grossly overpricing him. The most expensive player so far is Zinedine Zidane, who cost madrid 76 million euros, but that was after he had already won the Serie A twice, the european super cup, the international cup, the italian super cup, the 98 world cup and the 2000 european championships. He had also been to the Uefa CL finals 2 in succesive season before he finally won it at real madrid. All this not to mention his individual awards such as:
Uefa Club Football Awards, Best Midfielder: 1997/1998
World Soccer Player of the Year: 1998
FIFA World Player of the Year: 1998, 2000
FIFA Bronze World Player of the Year: 1997,
European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d’Or): 1998
All of this and he still cost about 10 million less pounds than what some of you are suggesting Fergie should ask for Christiano Ronlado.
If the deal was Robben+Ramos+Casilias for Ronaldo I’d be tempted.
robben+ramos+casillas..??? sounds bullshiat.
why not all real madrid team goes to Mu and ronaldo to real? plus 40mln$. heh.
He is worth a whle lot of money, no doubt about that but some of the figures being mentioned are just stupid. No played is worth that kind of money.
I just don’t think he will be able to reproduce another season like the one he has just had, let him go, and take Ramos, Robinho and some cash. Means we don’t need to buy a RB or another winger just yet so we save money there and we can break the bank on what we really need, a top draw, tall target man up front and a new winger in the next year or so. Would also leave us with plenty of cash for some good up and comers.
We want players who want to be at United not players playing the waiting game just to get a “Dream” transfer to “play in the white shirt of Real Madrid.”
That is the whole point, their tapping up has been a complete farce, so why not play along by making a farcical counter offer. £50m + two or three of your best players and we’ll begin discussions.
When they come back and say “clear off, he is not that valuable”, it might also knock him down a peg or two as he is clearly becomming rather arrogant.
We shouldn’t sell to Madrid under any circumstances. People say that this thing about sitting Ronny in the stands is BS. I don’t think it’d ever come to that, but United must be prepared to go that far.
Why? Because if we capitulate to Madrid’s nonsense now, they’ll be back in a few years to take the next star we develop off of our hands. They’ll orchestrate another media shit storm in the Spanish press, and off we go again.
Also, people who think we’d get 100 million for Ronaldo need reality therapy. Madrid have never tabled an offer for Ronnie. Why? Because they don’t want to until Ronnie publicly states he wants to go and will only go to Madrid. Then Madrid will have us where they want us - they’ll drive the price down, and take the player on their terms.
Finally, a message for the playstation jockeys who think we can use the 100 million Madrid won’t pay us to buy Kaka/Messi and Santa Claus - terrific. Two slight problems. Their clubs won’t sell and there’s no guarantee their players would leave. Other than that, it’s a splendid plan.
am a real galaticos fan,if madrid exchange robinho for ronaldo plus cash,men i will decamp from madrid to barca…….the world knows that robinho is far better than ronnie