A day after Cristiano Ronaldo stated that it was a dream of his to play for Real Madrid, Manchester United stated very clearly that its star player is not for sale. The club released this statement on its website:
"Further to Friday’s press speculation about where Cristiano Ronaldo’s future lies, the club has moved to reiterate its stance on the matter: United are not listening to offers.
"The club reaffirmed to ManUtd.com on Friday morning that the 23-year-old United star is ‘not for sale’."
Well, so much for that.
What do you think? Is this just a ploy by Man U as it negotiates? Are Man U and Real Madrid really headed for a battle? Has Ronaldo played his last game for Man U? Share your thoughts below.
If the dude wants to go- not much they can do about it in the end. He will not sign a new contract, his value will not be higher than it is now. Punitive responses like benching him for hte season are stupid- his value will only go down and ManU will get less for him in the end.
Ship him out. Get Sneijder, Ramos and cash in return. Buy Berbatov, Huntelaar, and Schweinsteiger. Be a better team than you were.
Man U supporters, get over it. Why wouldn’t a player want to make more money, play in a better league, play for a better team, play in front of more knowledgeable fans and live in sunny Madrid rather than miserable Manchester.
William the Terror. When management ceases to spit in the faces of players when it suits their purpose, I’ll be ready to talk about “honoring” contracts. Have you ever noticed that management always talks about selling and buying players, not contracts (which is what they are legally doing). I thought a lawyer would be concerned about owners claiming the right to buy and sell a person.
Personally, I think this is a brilliant move by ManU because it immediately forces Real Madrid’s hand.
How bad do they want Ronaldo? Are they willing to part with 70 million Euro…or maybe 80 million. Maybe throw a player into the mix as well?
ManU is in the drivers seat and now they are in a position to name their price (secretly). Does Madrid have the balls to say no to a Ronaldo transfer simply because of money? That would be seen as an insult to “the greatest player in the world today”.
ManU is going to keep turning the screws. The only risk is that, if this falls through, you might find Ronaldo copy his countryman by convenience (Mr. Deco) and sleepwalk his way through the season because he’s unhappy. ManU can’t replace Ronaldo easily but they’ve got young, hungry players who will want their chance to prove they can take his place.
Why would ManU sell the under-contract probable current world’s best to a side it might have to face in the Champions League? If Ronaldo’s contract was going to expire presently, then a sale/trade might bring value. But now? It would set a terrible precedent for club as big as Manu to sell a player of that caliber merely because he has a “dream.” Let him dream wearing ManU’s colors for a few years and then he can have his reality.
Without a doubt, C. Ronaldo is a phenomenal player. But if he doesn’t want to win games for Man U, then that is a real shame. I know it has been said before, but if Man U can manage to swing two players (ala Sergio Ramos and another, be it Robinho, Pepe or Sneijder) as well as cash, they have an opportunity to fill a desperately needed right back spot as well as have a quality young player at another spot. Do what you will with the extra cash, but a player like Robinho or Nani can fill in for the missing Ronaldo. Not replace, but fill in admirably, and provide stability in the back line. Although I’d like to see a player of his magnitude and talent stay at Old Trafford, I can’t help but make the deal if you can get enough out of it.
@kpugs
lol — over the past few days, i have grown used to being called “borderline ridiculous” or worse due to mt daily diatribes against the Italian team at the Euros. so, i’m okay with that.
i guess i just come from an “old school” perspective that says that when you give your word to someone (and a contract is a promise — being an attorney I can assure you of that) you keep your word.
i am just tired of players in sports (any sport) being such spoiled primadonnas.
finally, while my feelings may be childish or irrational (and I realize that they often are) the sports we love evoke the passion inside us, and that passion is not always pretty. but these little disagreements that we have sure do make for interesting reading.
I think CR7 will be with ManU next season, and if he pouts about it, he may find himself in the stands. SAF makes decisions on his own terms, and is not often (if ever) held ransom by a player or another club. Beckham, Van Nistleroy and others have moved when SAF is ready for them to move, not before.
If they are going to lose the best player in the world (for the moment) they want a HUGE payday for it and Sergio Garcia.
Sergio Garcia plays for Zaragoza. Or golf.
@Brett – I just want to piggyback on your comments. I am a Fire fan, and found the whole JCO and Conde reaction silly myself. Everyone is so quick to pull out the contract when a player they like wants to leave. But if the Fire ripped up Chad Barrett’s contract this morning, and cut him, you think any Fire fans would sleep over it? You think if Landon Donovan in his current form wanted to play for the Fire all of a sudden, any of us would be saying “I think he should stay with the Galaxy and honor his contract”…. NO WAY.
I’m a huge Man U fan who thinks Ronaldo is classless. I wish SAF had the balls to sit Ronaldo on the bench for the year. Use him sparingly as a sub to teach him a lesson. And I bet WE STILL BAG THE TREBLE!
By the way, I’m finding my beloved Red Bulls unwatchable.
Man U is just driving up the price. If they are going to lose the best player in the world (for the moment) they want a HUGE payday for it and Sergio Garcia.
William the Terror- your response is the type of response i expected from ManU fans…. its the same response Fire fans take when topics including JCO and Conde get brought up… odd how other people do it as well when such instances arise in their teams….
anyhow, back to my reason for posting… you may be shooting him with hate now, but when he’s back on your field scoring and winning you’ll be singing a different tune…
The real reason why Ronaldo wants to move to Madrid? It’s his new Spanish girlfriend Nereida Gallardo. Here are some not safe for work pictures for your enjoyment:
http://machochip.com/2008/04/nereida-gallardo-is-topless-on-1.php
Can you really blame him?
Sorry to disagree William. I’m a ManU fan myself (well, first and foremost Red Bulls, but you get the idea). Loyalty in football is now the exception and not the rule–hell, it’s that way in almost anything these days when millions of dollars are involved.
From my perspective as a fan I want him to stay. I want Man United to refuse to sell him, because what fan wants to see the best player on earth leave his club?
But from Ronaldo’s perspective, he just had an all time great season. He’s said he wants to play in Spain for as long as he’s been worthy of media mention. It is going to happen, if not now, then in the future. From Ronaldo’s standpoint, there is never going to be a more lucrative time for him to switch clubs–EVER.
I’m not happy about it, believe me. But anyone blaming Ronaldo for wanting to capitalize on his career year has the wool pulled over their eyes. For clubs this has always been a business. For players, it’s a business now more than it has ever been.
As fans we have no choice but to suck it up–placing blame on the player himself is just childish. It’s not like he came up through the system, after all. I love your passion William but open your eyes, your attitude is borderline ridiculous.
Having had the great misfortune to live in Tampa between 1999 and 2004, I can tell you that the Glazers are tough mother#%&*@#s. I can easily see them sitting Ronaldo for a while to prove a point. They may very well refuse to sell the player, sit him in the stands (not even let him dress for games) and then let him sulk until the winter transfer window. Fine with me. As a ManU fan, Ronaldo is now persona non grata. Screw him for his disloyalty.
If Real ponies up a significant chunk of money, you sell him. It’s that simple. And if you can get a package of players and cash for him, do it. He’s a special player, but you could 6-7 supremely talented players for the amount of money he will likely cost.
Ronaldo knows he is the greatest current footballer on the planet. He feels he has nothing to prove to Manchester United since he won them the title and the Champions League. He is ready to move on, and if I were Man U, I’d let Ronaldo poison Real’s locker room instead.
Contract or no contract, if he says he wants to go and puts in a transfer request there is not a lot that SAF can do to keep him in Manchester.
And don’t discount the need for the Glazers wanting to get some cash to put against the mountain of debt they took on when purchasing the club. They can placate Sir Alex by giving him half the obscene fee Real will pay them for Ronaldo and put the rest towards the debt I can see it happening.
garber would force the trade for a super special ultra secret allocation. And a map to the Leprechaun’s gold …
A.S., FYI: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/6551679.stm
He’s under contract through 2012 it appears.
I wonder if Man U is mulling this over: Real does have plenty of assets that Man U could demand in return (not publicly though). Between e.g. Sneijder, Robinho, Gago and Pepe, there is some ridiculous young talent at Real.
who knows but, no offense intended at all, if you post each time there is a “twist” in this drama, SBI will be nothing but C. Ronaldo topics.
This issue will only get bigger and more annoying until the day that he leaves for Spain. Ugh.
ooooooo this is like an upgraded version of the Conde Debacle…. i wonder how much love he’ll be receiving from ManU fans after saying he wanted to be transfered…
lol, its issue after issue with this guy… XD this was great
I guess this all depends on if Christiano is going to be pouty about this.
How long is he under contract to United for? If he has more than a year or two, I don’t see any need for ManU to think about transferring him.
(BTW, is there any good site that shows the length/amounts of soccer player contracts? It’s easy to find out the exact length and amount of all NBA contracts, for example, but I’m not aware of anything for soccer.)