Alex Ferguson plots spending spree to replace £80m Cristiano Ronaldo

[BAK]

Alex Ferguson plots spending spree to replace £80m Cristiano Ronaldo

• Ribéry, Valencia and Benzema in United's sights
• Deal with Real due to be complete by 30 June

Daniel Taylor guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 June 2009​

Sir Alex Ferguson has put together a list of potential summer transfer targets as he tries to fill the enormous void created by the imminent £80m transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid and the *prospect of Carlos Tevez following the world *footballer of the year out of Old Trafford.

Manchester United's first response to sanctioning Ronaldo's departure will be to follow up their interest in Luis Antonio Valencia and offer around £17m to Wigan Athletic. Ferguson is also an admirer of Karim Benzema and will investigate the cost of signing the France striker from Lyon, particularly if Tevez goes through with his threat to leave. Jean Michel Aulas, the Lyon president, has stated that Benzema will not leave for less than €80m (£68m), but it is thought the French club would actually sell for half that amount.

United are also monitoring Franck Ribéry's availability, although the Bayern Munich player would prefer to move to Spain and, with the Valencia striker David Villa, is another target for Madrid in what is shaping up to be the most remarkable period of transfer spending in history.

Having already signed Kaka from Milan for £59m, the capture of Ronaldo will be the culmination of 18 months of strategic planning on the part of Madrid and the player. The club expect Ronaldo to arrive in Spain "in the next few days" and the deal will be concluded as soon as he has passed his medical examination. His *salary was agreed almost a year ago, when Madrid put the deal in place. Ronaldo will earn a flat wage of £6.8m a year plus substantial add-ons and image-rights payments.

"This is very flattering for me," Ronaldo said last night. "The fact that two of the world's greatest teams want to trade me is not something that happens every day."

Ronaldo, currently on holiday in Los Angeles, also confirmed that a doctor from Madrid had examined the groin injury that has been troubling him. "Every*one wants to see and test your product or future product," he explained. "It does not require an operation."

The announcement from Old Trafford yesterday represents a devastating blow for the Premier League champions and is the news their supporters have been dreading ever since Ronaldo began *talking openly of his "dream" to join Madrid. He tried to force through a transfer this time last year. Ferguson persuaded him to stay at Old Trafford for another year but *Ronaldo made it clear that it would be his final season with the club.

His agent, Jorge Mendes, worked out a deal with all the relevant people as long ago as last September, writing in various pledges and confidentiality clauses.

"Let's just say that everyone involved in the operation agreed to do it this season," Ramón Calderón, Madrid's president at that time, said last night. "That is what I can say. Last season United decided not to do it because they thought it was too early and instead everyone agreed to do it this season. He [Ronaldo] wanted to come, he said that many times. It's OK for Real Madrid and also for Manchester United, who will get a lot of money."

United's official stance was that Ronaldo would not be allowed to leave, something the club's chief executive, David Gill, repeated as recently as two weeks ago. Ferguson went even further in his own denials, declaring last December that he would not sell "that mob a virus".

Instead, the deal was tied up in a 15-minute telephone call on Wednesday, when Madrid's new president, Florentino Pérez, contacted Gill to tell him the money was in place. Mendes had already let United know his client still wanted to leave and Gill interrupted Ferguson's holiday in France to inform him. The club released the news in a statement: "Manchester United have received a world-record, unconditional offer of £80m for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid. At the request of Cristiano – who has again expressed his desire to leave – and after discussion with the player's representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player. Matters are expected to be concluded by 30 June."

That leaves Ferguson with the task of replacing the potentially irreplaceable but his priority will be to persuade Tevez, a free agent from 30 June, to resist *Manchester City's offer of a huge pay rise and a regular first-team place. Tevez has become disillusioned about the way he perceives he has been treated at Old *Trafford, but Ferguson has broken off from his holiday on several occasions over the last week to contact the Argentina striker. Nonetheless, Tevez is aware that United are trying to sign Valencia and has not received any assurances about playing more regularly if he were to stay.

Uefa's president, Michel Platini, last night described the bid for Ronaldo as "excessive", adding: "It is very puzzling at a time when football faces some of its worst ever financial challenges. These transfers are a serious challenge to the idea of fair play."

 

[shiumiti]

Ferguson na unongozi wa MAN U wamefanya kitu ambacho hata viongozi wa FIFA wameshangaa. Pesa hizo ni nyngi na kuona uwezekano wa wao (FIFA) kuingilia kati katika masuala ya uuzaji wa wajezaji duniani. Hizo Pesa ni nyingi mno, Hata offer yenyewe imakaa kimasharti sharti tu....... Kama vile wana walazimisha MAdrid kumchukua Ronaldo... kwa kiasi hicho cha fedha...
Its a shame real!!!!!!!!!!!!....... a shame to Ferguson..... a shame to MAN U

 

[mTZ_halisi]

i dont see how Man U forced Madrid to take Ronaldo
mtaka cha uvunguni sharti ainame
sasa kama unataka product nami bei yangu ni hii
kama huwezi si uache... i dont see the problem here

 

[Kyakya]

That is their Price!! Whether they take or leave! They have decided to take it! So what is the problem!!!?

 

[shiumiti]

RONALDO ALISHAONYESHA NIA KUTAKA KUONDOKA OLD TRAFFORD TOKA MWAKA JANA, FERGUSON AKAMKATAZA KIMYA KIMYA....HATA KUDIRIKI KUKATAZA MAZUNGUMZO YOYOTE KATI YA RONALDO NA TIMU YOYOTE INAYOMTAKA......(Huu ni unyanyasaji wa wachezaji).... WACHEZAJI KWA UPANDE WAO PIA WANATAKIWA KUPEWA UHURU WA KUCHAGUA NA KWENDA KUCHEZA TIMU WANAZOZIPENDA NA SI KUENDESHWA NA VIONGOZI KAMA AKINA FERGUSON....
KWA MTAZAMO WANGU MIMI FERGUSON NA VIONGOZI WA MAN U WAME-DICTATE UTARATIBU MZIMA WA KUMUUZA RONALDO.... WHICH IS VERY VERY BAD....THATS WHY FIFA WANATAKA KUINGILIA KATI SUALA ZIMA ZA UUZAJI WA WACHEZAJI SASA....
(((Man U wametumia vibaya uhuru ambao FIFA iliuwachia kwa timu na wachezaji kuhama toka sehemu moja kwenda vingine)))

NA I AM SURE, SOON OR LATER, FIFA WATATANGAZA SHERIA MPYA.........

 

[mTZ_halisi]

wewe mpinzani tu
naamini wenzetu wanajua rights zao zaidi ya wabongo
kama mwaka jana alishindwa ku-force his way out there must have been contracts which he had to abide by them else angetoka tu
kubali ndugu, tumempata at less, tumeonyesha uwezo wake
na faida ndio kama hiyo anaondoka kwa dau kubwa
hata FIFA wakiingilia kwani watawaambia manu warudishe some of the amount
its the business man

 

[Belo]

Ferguson na unongozi wa MAN U wamefanya kitu ambacho hata viongozi wa FIFA wameshangaa. Pesa hizo ni nyngi na kuona uwezekano wa wao (FIFA) kuingilia kati katika masuala ya uuzaji wa wajezaji duniani. Hizo Pesa ni nyingi mno, Hata offer yenyewe imakaa kimasharti sharti tu....... Kama vile wana walazimisha MAdrid kumchukua Ronaldo... kwa kiasi hicho cha fedha...
Its a shame real!!!!!!!!!!!!....... a shame to Ferguson..... a shame to MAN U

Tatizo la MANU liko wapi ?wao wametaka mchezaji wakatajiwa dau na wamekubali kulipa

 

[Ngongo]

SIR ALEX FERGUSON might have had the final say - but the whispers from the dressing room were becoming hard to ignore.

Cristiano Ronaldo is leaving - but he won't be lamented. Twelve months ago, when Real Madrid first came calling, Ronaldo was inundated with text messages from senior Manchester United players - urging him to stay. This time, there have been none

Ronaldo had grown apart from his team-mates, Ferguson had sensed it - and that is why the Old Trafford manager was happy to take Real Madrid's £80million.

On the training ground, they were tiring of his tantrums. On the pitch, they were fed up of his selfishness.

And it culminated in fury from senior players after Ronaldo tried to single-handedly beat Barcelona in the Champions League final last month.

A United insider told the News of the World: "To many, that was the final straw and showed what he had become.

"Wayne Rooney had to change position three times to accommodate Ronaldo. The experienced players in the squad had seen it coming and weren't happy about it.

"Ronaldo had been getting more and more temperamental in training and the others were getting fed up with him. They knew his mind was elsewhere and they thought he was becoming a distraction.

"The senior guys couldn't believe it when he threw the tantrum during the Manchester City game."

That tantrum came after an hour of the Manchester derby at Old Trafford on May 10. Ronaldo had fired United ahead with a trademark free-kick and after Carlos Tevez made the points safe on the stroke of half-time, Ferguson decided his Portuguese star would benefit from a rest ahead of the crucial Premier League trip to Wigan three days later

That decision sparked a furious reaction from Ronaldo - who shook his head in disbelief when he realised his number was up.The winger snatched his training top aggressively and sat on the bench, mouthing his disgust.

Publicly at least, Ferguson brushed aside the incident, witnessed by millions on TV, insisting: "He wanted to stay on. He is in great form. But I've got to look at the big picture. I've got to think about keeping our players as fresh as we can for the games ahead."

Privately, though, there is no doubt Ferguson and many of Ronaldo's United team-mates were irked by the petulant show of defiance.

And as Ronaldo hogged more and more of the limelight, there was increasing sympathy for Rooney - a player, unlike his departing team-mate, who is liked by everyone at Old Trafford and at the club's Carrington training complex.

The England striker was always the one forced to make a positional sacrifice and, towards the end of the season, grew frustrated at being edged out towards the left flank. His annoyance with Ronaldo during the Champions League final in Rome was plain to see.

The departure of Ronaldo should see Rooney play more in his favoured position - the second striker role he has filled so spectacularly for England.

And it will also mean the way is clear for Rooney to be rewarded for his unstinting commitment by being handed a new contract and being made the highest-paid player at Old Trafford.


Rooney, 23, has two years left on his current £100,000-a-week deal but United will open negotiations with his advisers later this summer. And that will lead to a new, six-year deal which will start at a basic £125,000-a-week and rise sharply.

The United insider explained: "Ferguson has always said that if he had to lose either Ronaldo or Rooney, it would be Ronaldo every time. Rooney is the future of United and everyone there knows they can count on his loyalty and his team ethic."

Rooney, of course, was involved in the infamous incident in Gelsenkirchen at the 2006 World Cup which saw Ronaldo winking as the England striker was sent off as Sven Goran Eriksson's team crashed out on penalties. Although Ronaldo was forgiven, the moment was never forgotten.

United, meanwhile are facing a £2.5m scrap with Sporting Lisbon over Ronaldo's switch to the Bernabeu.

The Portuguese club are set to slap in a claim to United for "development costs" during Ronaldo's time at Sporting. They reckon they are entitled to cash from the sensational £80m which will be heading into the Old Trafford coffers.

A Lisbon source said: "Sporting spent a lot of time and money on Ronaldo during his formative years and they feel they are entitled to some compensation."

Real's new president Florentino Perez made Ronaldo his second megabucks capture of the summer after signing Brazil playmaker Kaka from AC Milan for what - for a few days, at least - was then a new world record fee of £62m.

But Spanish sources claim the man who invented the galactico ethos is expected to tie up a £35m deal to sign Valencia's Spanish international striker David Villa this week - making the Spanish international the third high-profile Bernabeu deal inside a fortnight.

But there will certainly be no tears shed around Old Trafford at Ronaldo's imminent departure. And the mood of the players is best summed up by Nemanja Vidic, who was asked about Ronaldo's future before it was confirmed he was heading off.

Vidic declared: "It is not a situation I know anything about but what I will say is that I and the players have total trust in the manager. The fans have seen him over the years lose players and build new teams - but never has he lost that winning mentality.

"No matter who has gone, the manager has continued to be successful. It is the only way he knows. He has lost major players over the last 10 years but he has proved that no player is ever bigger than the club."

. . . And from what a lot of the players saw, Cristiano Ronaldo had begun to think he was just that.

 

[ybest]

Neither Man U nor Sir Alex is to blame for the departure of Ronaldo. It is all Madrid's call, its their call!!! we didnt force them into it, they just give in...but to what i see Ronaldo is still too young to join Madrid..do you have comments on this fellow members?

 

[Semilong]

RONALDO ALISHAONYESHA NIA KUTAKA KUONDOKA OLD TRAFFORD TOKA MWAKA JANA, FERGUSON AKAMKATAZA KIMYA KIMYA....HATA KUDIRIKI KUKATAZA MAZUNGUMZO YOYOTE KATI YA RONALDO NA TIMU YOYOTE INAYOMTAKA......(Huu ni unyanyasaji wa wachezaji).... WACHEZAJI KWA UPANDE WAO PIA WANATAKIWA KUPEWA UHURU WA KUCHAGUA NA KWENDA KUCHEZA TIMU WANAZOZIPENDA NA SI KUENDESHWA NA VIONGOZI KAMA AKINA FERGUSON....
KWA MTAZAMO WANGU MIMI FERGUSON NA VIONGOZI WA MAN U WAME-DICTATE UTARATIBU MZIMA WA KUMUUZA RONALDO.... WHICH IS VERY VERY BAD....THATS WHY FIFA WANATAKA KUINGILIA KATI SUALA ZIMA ZA UUZAJI WA WACHEZAJI SASA....
(((Man U wametumia vibaya uhuru ambao FIFA iliuwachia kwa timu na wachezaji kuhama toka sehemu moja kwenda vingine)))

NA I AM SURE, SOON OR LATER, FIFA WATATANGAZA SHERIA MPYA.........

shiumiti hacha chuki na manutd

manutd wanajua kutengeneza mchezaji na kumtangaza mapaka mauzo yake yakawa makubwa na madrid wanajua hilo kwa matangazo hawawezi united.....
tume mtangaza becks na tukamtumia vya kutosha madrid wakamchukua tukala mil25 tukachaukua 12.5m tukatengeneza ronaldo, mauzo ya jezi na magoli vimerudisha hela nyingi tu, sasa hvi tunakula hiyo jackpot 80m, kwa hiyo itakuwa ni kazi ya madrid kuhakikisha inarudisha hela yake..

ukizingatia tumenunua kwa mil 12.5, misimu mitano ya magoli na kombe, ukitoa mshahara na kumuuza kwa 80m jumla faida inakuja zaidi ya £120m.

sasa hivi ferguson ananunua ashley young(25m) na benzima(25m), 30m inabakia inatulia

 

[Manda]

Wabongo banaaaaaaa!

Tatizo nini?, tumetengeneza pesa nzuri $80Mil, ama Ron doesnt worth that ammount?

Bidala ya kuanza ku-celebrate kimya kimya kuwa aliye kuwa anawafunga kila mkicheza ma Manutd kaondoka eti mwajifanya ku-mind!..Lol!