So its official, Manchester United’s board have accepted a world record shattering bid of £80 million this morning from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t face another summer of every news outlet boring us to tears speculating on Ronaldo’s future as we had last season. Day after day, hour after hour, miniscule item after item of droning with ultimately no end product.
This means at last Ronaldo can get the move he claims is a dream for him, United can get £80 million for a player who is clearly nowhere near the level he was in 2007-2008 and Real Madrid can keep signing attacking players that won’t win them anything next season. I wonder if Michele Platini is about to launch a stinging attack on Florentino Perez as he clearly spends money the club don’t have. Of course not!
I’m sure some Manchester United fans will be devastated to be losing Ronaldo, there’s no doubt on his day he is a fantastic player, but last season saw his performance fall away from the level he’d set himself. Of course, Madrid’s courting of him all summer only for Ferguson to dig his heels in would have affected him and he once again failed to deliver for Portugal in a major tournament. Missing preseason with an injury didn’t help, but the Champions League final saw him completely outshone by Iniesta, Xavi and Messi.
No doubt Ferguson will be getting some criticism of some of Manchester United’s more uneducated fan base, but there’s no way you can turn down that amount of money for any player. If anything, United are probably selling him at the right time, its doubtful anything he does next season would increase his value, so Ferguson and United are right to sell him now. Ferguson has been slatted before for selling players certain fans thought were irreplaceable but three titles and two Champions League finals in the last 3 seasons answers any criticism the doom mongers may offer up.
United will now probably push on for a replacement, Franck Ribery, Antonio Valencia and Karim Benzema have all been touted as replacements, though United may take two of those with the funds they receive from Madrid. With Madrid buying Kaka and Ronaldo, it probably frees up those three to join other clubs and United will be jostling with Chelsea and Barcelona to sign them up. As for Madrid, Perez’s ill feted galactico scheme seems to have been brought back for the dead and it wouldn’t surprise me if they go after one other massive signing soon. Shame they’ve forgotten how bad the defence was at Madrid last season, so Perez would a fool to ignore strengthening the back line.
The additional aspect of this is that the transfer merry go round should begin to kick off all over Europe now, with the Kaka, Diego and Barry deals being the only 3 major transfers since the domestic season finished all over Europe. The bubble is well and truly set to continue growing in the Premiership and La Liga, and most of the major clubs in both countries yet to start spending, the silly season could be just around the corner.
As for Ronaldo, sure, it’ll be a shame to see him leave the Premiership, but Spanish football and La Liga isn’t far behind in popularity so he’ll not disappear from view. Over the time he spent at Old Trafford, he’s thrilled as many people as he’s annoyed. His performances over the years at club level have propelled him to the forefront of football fans all over the world and his superb season for United in 2007-2008 will live long in the memory. It’s been a privilege to watch him for the last 3 or 4 seasons, but the Premier League and Manchester United will survive and flourish without him.
£80 million is good business. Most United fans I know love the player, not so much the person. The absurdities of last summer still sting many of us.
Still waiting for comment from Platini. Will it ever come?
The whole Galactico scheme was supposed to work because the majority of players would be home grown, sprinkled with megastars. Seems like, once again, Perez forgot about the local home grown talent part.
Bishopville Red despite all the BS you hear the reason Spanish football is so dominant is due to the huge and vast amounts of money they spend.
Look up the record books year on year Spanish teams have broken the records to buy the best players. There is no real homegrown talent they take players from around the world either for high fees or when they spot international talent at a young age.
La Liga is all a fabricated league with gobs of money thrown at it and thats all its ever been.
80 million is a lot of money though and a good sell. Ronaldo is a godly player and one of the best to touch a football already but Fergie got a good amount and is making a good decision.
With the windfall at our possession we have serious spending power at our disposal.
I’d personally shoot for Yaya Toure, Antonio Valencia and Benzema.
If possible add Ribery and your talking about a much superior team.
It’s a smart business decision by Manchester United. The club are selling Ronaldo at the most opportune time when they’re most likely to get the most money for CR7. It’s best to sell the player while Real Madrid has silly money in hand to spend. That could soon change.
Another smart move by Sir Alex Ferguson.
Should be interesting to see who United buys now and how soon Ribery will be snapped up.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
Great footballer (when he has the ball) poor team player overall
Good business decision to sell at this time, key will be what we DO with the money
Last year CR registered CR9 in anticipation of him moving to Madrid and getting the #9 shirt there…I have no problems with the lad making his fortune, everyone on here knows that you gotta do what’s best for you…he has helped United achieve a lot over the past 3 years and it wasn’t his fault alone we couldn’t beat a great barca team.
I don’t say good riddance, no class in that…I say, well done, thanks for the goals, the moves, the excitement…you have raised the bar for so many kids who watch your moves and technique over the years at United.
His faults are well documented and any coach worth his salt will stress to ALL young players that are doing the Ronaldo Lollipops, “That’s Great son….but make sure you track back now” LOL
Farewell Ronaldo…we hardly knew ya!
Great footballer poor team player overall
Good business decision to sell at this time, key will be what we DO with the money. and i love him and why your you living.
you have been a great footballer and i have been watching you on TV and i am ur biggiest fan in the world
i love u.
LOL
Dhanishaxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Yes, it’s an excellent piece of business. Sir Alex is cashing in on a perpetually unsettled player, and with 80 million pounds and the 120,000+ a week wage bill he’s saving; he can buy a (possible) backup for Tevez and try to balance that midfield that showed its limits in Rome. Like the writer said: I wonder of Platini has a problem with Madrid’s spending, I would guess not. They’re not English. Wasn’t this club forced to mortgage their training ground a few years ago? Where exactly do they get their funds? UEFA don’t seem to mind either.
Take a look at this article on the BBC website.
Short answer: they aren’t spending money they don’t have, and they aren’t spending money they didn’t make — unlike Chelsea and Man City.
That is what Platini was talking about: Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour are bringing in buckets of cash that they made in the oilfields and dumping it into the game.
There is no real homegrown talent
That’s a pretty funny thing to say about another country on a site devoted to the English Premiership.
(Oh, and refresh my memory: who won the last Euros…?)
I’m not getting your point LI, are you saying Ronaldo, Van Nisterooy, Kaka, Zidane, Robin, Robihinio, Figo, Beckham et al are “homegrown” talent? I don’t care what that BBC article says: Real Madrid simply does not have that kind of liquidity – period. It’s practically going to be all leveraged debt. For the last 30 years, Spanish and Italian clubs have had a chokehold on the world’s best players – because they were willing to pay whatever it took and oh how they resented the success of the likes of Liverpool, Forest and other English teams in Europe regardless. That balance started to turn 10 years ago with the financial TV power of the EPL and yes – the oligarchs. All of a sudden the Eurocrats incl. Platini (who ironically played in Italy and had his fat wages paid by the Fiat family) supposedly have a problem with foreign players. I guess you and the Frenchman had a problem with Berlusconi bankrolling Milan’s success during the 80/90′s as well but just kept quiet. I still believe La Liga on average plays to best technical football in Europe, so your “who won the Euros” goad is not going to work I’m afraid.
Ronaldo is a TW@ – he’ll fit in well at Madrid. I hope his private plane goes down right after they finalize the transfer.
Class or no class, good riddance to him, his ego, hid complaining, his attitude, his diving, and his fruity pink mini-shorts… Kaka better hold on tight to that soap in the Bernabeau showers.
Whew, I feel better now. I’ll have two Ribery’s, and my friend Alfie will have a Benzema with a David Villa floater, please.
You wish for his plane go down? Class or no class right JLay. Aparently, you too don’t know the difference.
LI Matt:
Don’t give me any story about good business, Real Madrid has made more errors than most. But being the boys with the silver spoon in their mouths, they get the mother of all handouts.
Notice how all the profit talk comes up AFTER Florentino Perez left. After they had MASSIVE debts both releived by the government, and after they had to sell their inner city training ground to cover the costs the government couldn’t excuse.
The Galactico era almost killed Real Madrid. Now the Perez is back, there’s every chance he’ll finish the job.
SB
I loved watching him play, and I thanked God he played for Manchester United. I really hoped he would grow up and become a great man in addition to the greatest player. The put-upon looks when he didn’t get calls… how I would have detested him if he played for Liverpool or Chelsea.
While it seems like a lot of money, prices have just gone up all over town, and you could blow the whole wad on Ribery and Benzema. And that’s assuming the whole wad will be used in the transfer market (and it won’t be).
I guess I’ll finally be checking the Fox Soccer Channel listings for certain Spanish games. Gaffer – you should start a La Liga Talk – I have no idea what the match coverage even is in the US.
Dave, ask and ye shall receive — check out La Liga Talk at http://www.laligatalk.com
GolTV have exclusive US TV rights to La Liga matches. They usually show a couple of games on Saturday followed by a couple on Sunday as well as the occasional mid-week game.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
The money is being used in the transfer market its been confirmed none of it will be used to repay the loans will be given to Alex Ferguson to spend as he wishes.
The Glazers released a statement earlier today about the fair. Google it.
I would not say Ronaldo was outshined in the CL Final. In fact he was one of the few fighting.
Complete bummer. The squad has plenty of promising youth but wow. If anything, this makes me want the season to start even sooner to see what kind of squad get put on the pitch.
yes, it’s too bad Ronaldo leaves England, but we can see him and Kaka play together, isn’t it wonderful?