Cristiano Ronaldo is heading to Real Madrid (well, not yet, but it's inevitable now).
The longest-running rumor in European soccer has finally closer to become reality after Manchester United announced it was agreeing to let Ronaldo negotiate with Real Madrid after receiving an £80 million ($121 million) bid for the Portuguese star. The transfer, expected to be completed later this month, will break the transfer record set just days ago by Ronaldo's soon-to-be teammate Kaka.
WOW.
You had to know the long-discussed transfer would eventually happen, but few could have anticipated that Real Madrid would land Ronaldo AND Kaka, arguably two of the top three players in the world.
What now? United has a boat-load of money and a serious void to fill.
The club has been linked to everyone from Karim Benzema to Franck Ribery. No matter who United buys this summer, it will be hard-pressed to replace Ronaldo's goal-scoring prowess and dynamic attacking qualities.
As for Real Madrid, the shopping spree is not over. The club is said to be targeting David Villa as well as some other complementary parts for a reconstructed squad that has to now be considered capable of unseating defending La Liga and Champions League titleholders FC Barcelona.
What do you think of this transfer? Think Real Madrid is crazy for spending so much money on two players? Do you see this version of Los Galacticos winning the titles that the Zidane-Beckham-Ronaldo edition couldn't? Who do you think Manchester United will bring in with all that Ronaldo money?
Share your thoughts below.
is that chris rolfe rumor for real?
wouldn’t it be funny if ronaldo and kaka both ended up sitting out injured next season?
For all those questioning where Real Madrid gets the money, the club has a printing base below the Bernabau. The introduction of the Euro made printing money much easier for them.
On a more serious note, there are two other business related issues to this signing. First, I wonder how much of this money will go towards buying players and how much will be diverted to paying down debt. Second, the real winner in this transfer deal (and the Kaka move) is Adidas. They must be salivating at the idea of selling millions of Real shirts with Ronaldo and Kaka’s name on the back
It’s worthless. Perez didn’t win any trophies the first time around, why does he think it will work this time? He’s said it before, bringing in every superstar in the world is a ‘great economic model’.
I don’t see Real Madrid winning anything.
Kind of makes the trade rumors of Marcus Hahnemann going to Wolves pale in comparison!
But still – exciting for Marcus to be in the EPL again.
And for those of us with DC United/Real Madrid tickets, BRING ON RONALDO AND KAKA!
Rumor has it Chris Rolfe is on his way to Bolton
Real Madrid epitomize everything I dislike about football. This is the scuzziest union since Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson.
ronaldo was great for man utd. but now it’s time to move on. united could definitely use this money to spend on a quality midfielder.
My jaw dropped this morning when I read this. Absolutely mind-blowing that Spain has the highest unemployment % in the entire EU, yet Perez still pulls crap like this. An absolute bitch-slap to everyone in Spain that’s been affected by this economy. Perez isn’t even spending the money wisely, if I were him I’d be content with Kaka, plopped a few million down on Essien, a few on Vidic, and so on an so forth.
However, Fergie is stupid for not asking for some players as well. If I were him, I would have asked for 30-40 million in cash along with Casillas and Huntelaar. That would have really made Madrid think about just how important Ronaldo is to them, and if they accepted, Fergie would be laughing all the way to another EPL and Champions League double.
How Real Madrid can afford to buy….
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article6426983.ece
I hope Real Madrid loses and loses bad next season!
How can you leave out Higuain, who scored more goals than years he’s been on the planet? (22 goals vs 21 years) I think his spot is safe, Raul’s is safe, everyone else is up for grabs if they get Villa.
Yeah, I think any lineups with Cannavaro should be ignored. Try again. As for RM, I would love to see Ronnie’s reaction the first time Pellegrini asks him to track back. This has got EPIC FAIL written all over it.
Real Madrid really needs to address their defensive woes at this point. This was a great signing however, and since i hate man u i really couldn’t be happier. I have no problems with teams spending boat loads of money if they can afford it, and real madrid (the richest club in the world) can certainly afford it.
Wow, if this goes through I will have lost my last reason to dislike ManU. Not that I’ll like them, I’d say I would nothing them. But definitely not dislike them.
How much $$$$ do they have? It seems unreal to spend $200MM+ on just two guys? I know they are prollly 2 of the top 3 or 4 players in the world but still. Right?
As for Man U with Rio, Vidic, Rooney, Evra, Berba, Anderson, Rafael, Nani, Macheda, Owen, Carrick etc… lus $121MM and some csh they must have in the bank they will be fine.
What EPL players should they buy? Or so think it will come from other leagues?
they mind as well bur ribery, gerrard, villa, torres and etc and they will have the best mid and front ever….
They might want to get a new defender and an extra defensive midfielder…
There’s a reason why this galactico thing blew up on them in the first place.
Cannavaro is gone.
Ruud? He is old and injured.
Isaac: You will never see any of the lineups that you posted.
Cannavaro is at Juve; RVN will be replaced by Villa; There are two Diarras; and you apparently haven’t been paying attention if you think this will “guarantee” their best season in history. Finally — they’re not a franchise.
Great business deal for ManU (paying down debt, etc.) Sucks for the fan though; does anyone still root for laundry? I mean, seriously?
http://startingeleven.blogspot.com/2009/06/ronaldo-to-madrid-for-record-transfer.html
—————-Van Nistelrooy————-
Robben————–Kaka————Ronaldo
————–Diarra—-Sneijder———–
Drenthe——-Pepe—-Cannavaro-=—–Ramos
——————-Casillas—————-
The possibilities are so vast that if Madrid don’t have their best season in the history of the franchise I’m going to shove my head in a hole.
Oh and if we’re going to throw theories out there, my bet would be that Perez is using ACS as a piggy-bank to roll these transfers, and the plan is not to make the money back from shirt sales (moving 30 million shirts is not so easy!), but rather from influence peddling.
The first Barca-Madrid match of next season might rival any match ever played given the plotlines and unreal amount of talent on the pitch.
But I don’t see how Kaka and Ronaldo fit well on the same team, either in their style of play or in their vastly different personalities. Both can impose themselves on the defense, but neither is particularly known as a great distributor and there could be a real battle between them for who gets passes their way. Ribery would have been the much better move to complement either Kaka or Ronaldo. Of course, if they also sign Ribery then it might be another story.
man u should buy santi munoz
Now, tne entire world will be Real Madrid in FIFA 2010, just like everyone was Man U this year and Barcelona last year.
————–Raul—Van Nistlerooy——–
——————–Kaka——————-
Robben——————————Ronaldo
——————Diarra——————-
Drenthe——Pepe—–Cannavaro——-Ramos
——————-Casillas—————-
or….
——————Van Nistlerooy———–
————-Raul—————Kaka——-
Robben——————————Ronaldo
——————-Diarra——————
Drenthe——-Pepe——-Cannavaro—-Ramos
——————-Casillas—————-
The first match of Real Madrids regular season and the first El Classico of the season are going to be the most anticipated matches of the 09-10 season.
Real Madrid will be a beast in FIFA 2010. (But Barcelona will still be better in reality).
Catalan press is wondering where this money is coming from as well — and rightly so imo.
Visca el Barca!
Ronaldo will thrive in La Liga, with his size, skill, and speed he will be able to run through defenders who get called for fouls if the material on their shorts touch. Man U should look at outside mids, seems they have enough up front but a guy like Park (solid player but limited phyiscally) shouldnt be an inked in starter on one of hte top clubs in the world.
Whatever happens this will be very interesting watching everything unfold next season. With the anticipation of the upcoming WC, this next season should be awesome.
Real Madrid are scary. Enough said.
This is ridiculous. Where are they getting all this money? Is Dubai involved here? China maybe? How about the Galacticos open up some new jobs. I know, I’m a commie.
Good deal for Man U because you can’t say no to that money, but I wonder why they didnt ask for a player back in return, like Higuain or Sneijder, but Fergie will obviously use the money for an adequete replacement and hoping Man U uses part of the cash (20 mill of it) to payoff some of its debt
I think Barca will be more popular now…
Smart move by ManU. As for Real, Fiorentino Perez is a moron, and I’ll enjoy watching Galacticos v.2 succeed as much as v.1. (It’s like watching the Yankees buy star players at the expense of their farm system and then failing to win the World Series… again and again and again!) Let’s note that Real won back-to-back titles right after they blew up Galacticos experiment (Zidane retired, Figo went to Inter, R Carlos left, Owen left…) More importantly, given how many megaclubs are trying to trim costs in this economy, how can Real’s board let Perez get away with this? I foresee a heap of financial trouble down the road.
Ronaldo will be a star wherever he plays–despite all the whining and diving, he’s a helluva talent. But SAF had managed to tone down the superfluous aspects of the game and bend him into a disciplined type of play, and that had as much to do with Ronaldo’s unbelievable 07-08 campaign as anything else. I don’t know if he’ll play with the same kind of discipline at Real.
Where are you Michel Platini? Let’s hear the outrage…
I suddenly hate ManU less. Still hate them but less.
now they just need to pick up Gooch
I can’t wait to hear Ray Hudson commentating on Madrid’s games next season.
However, they still are lacking in one area, DEFENSE!!!!!!!!! They’re defense is aged and has serious doubts. They could have bought Manchester United’s entire backline with what they paid for Ronaldo. Until they improve in the back, they will continue to be inferior to Barca. I can’t wait until the first Madrid/Barca game however, it will be fantastic to watch all of those players on the same field.
Manchester United will only continue to improve. There is a HUGE gap that needs to be filled now, but a player like Ribery has the pace to get behind defenders, and craft to get between them, AND can serve in some very dangerous crosses. I think they should stay away from Benzema, he is a great player, but was invisible in the Euros last summer, and I think he will dissapear again on another big stage. Besides, they all ready have Tevez, Rooney, and Berbetov, how many other top 10 strikers do you need?
Although these are all great players Madrid is buying, I don’t see them winning La Liga. You can’t buy a championship, the team must have a sense of unity and teamwork to achieve success, and you can’t buy that.
RM is going to have to sell some of their forwards if they’re targeting Villa
raul,rudd, huntelaar, higuain, saviola etc…some talented players wont like sitting on the bench
As a Man U fan I’m torn. We can buy a few great players with the cash but you really can’t replace a Ronaldo. That said, even though he led the team in goals, he never really looked to care or have the passion he did the year before. I’ll be sorry to see him go. I enjoyed watching him play.
Where is Real Madrid getting the money? Last year, Madrid could not come to Salt Lake to play in their supposed biennial game with RSL because of money troubles…but now they have the funds to not only buy CR, as they talked about last year, but they also are able to pull in Kaka. Interesting.
I think the whole deal between Big Dave/RSL and Real Madrid was a bunch of BS. Madrid is coming back to the US again this year, and Big Dave was hoping to have them come in as the opponents for the all-star game, but that won’t even happen. Good partnership.
I’ll be eagerly looking forward to the comments from an outraged Platini and Blatter about the vast sums of money that have been thrown around.
Where is RM getting this money???
Years ago, they had to sell their training grounds just to raise cash (and move a bit outside Madrid) because of all the Galatico spending.
Look at it this way, Ronaldo is worth more than 3 MLS clubs.
Stupid by Real Madrid. Their biggest issues last year had more to do with defense and ball-winning. They’ve got the attacking and goal scoring talent to be a really good team.
The biggest problem with Galacticos v.1 was that they were all about attacking players. Bob Gansler used to say you’ve got piano players and then piano movers and a good team has plenty of both. Real Madrid is assembling a team of nothing but piano players when they should be investing in about 3-6 world class defenders and Michael Essien and another good D-mid.
I say MAN U, keeps Tevez and buy Ribery. Then plugs Rooney outwide for Ronaldo and Tevez and Berbi up front. If the forwards dont produce, Ribery out wide and Rooney up front. Or screw that, buy Ribery and Zlatan and let tevez and ronaldo go.
The Galacticos Part 2….. and they wont win anything just like the first Galacticos…. they will end up all frustrated… and break apart in 3 years.
im all for a club spending loads of money as long as the feel they get their worth and can avoid being seriously in debt. speaking of debt, ManU really needs to pocket the money from the transfer and pay off some of their loans, but in order to stay competitive i understand a few signings. Ribéry will most likely come in now, as it is known the sir alex is fond of him. I think that Ronaldo is a prolific goalscorer but that ManU can still succed without him and that it was a smart decision to sell, he isnt gonna go up in price in the coming years.
First to comment!!!!! Ronaldo is a great player for sure but as an EPL and ManU fan it will be nice to watch a game without his theatrics and attitude on the pitch. It will be hard to replace his goal scoring and set pieces threat but this move will allow Rooney a more central role and also make room for Tevez on the pitch more which will replace some of those goals. I have faith in Sir Alex that the players on his squad and the ones yet to be added with fill part if not the whole void.
Man Utd. will somehow come out on top with this one. Everyone thought the sky was falling when Becks left man u for real, but fergie had this young relatively unknown commodity named ronaldo. With as much loot as they’ve got now I bet they come out an even stronger side.