MADRID: WE'LL PAY RONALDO £300,000 A WEEK
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Barcelona to join race for Cristiano Ronaldo
Manchester United could be forced to repel the advances of Spain's two biggest clubs in the battle to hold onto Cristiano Ronaldo with Barcelona preparing to rival Real Madrid in the race to sign the Portuguese forward.
Ronaldo, currently preparing for Portugal's Euro 2008 opener against Turkey on Saturday, has been at the centre of a tug-of-war between United and Real in recent weeks, with the Spanish champions making no secret of their desire to tempt the 23-year-old from Old Trafford.
But boardroom tensions at Barcelona could result in the Catalan giants fighting it out with Real for Ronaldo if the club's former vice-president, Sandro Rosell, succeeds in his bid to unseat the president, Joan Laporta, in a vote of confidence amongst Barca's members.
Laporta and Rosell worked together to win the presidency in 2003 and the two men drove the club's ultimately unsuccessful attempts to sign David Beckham from United, who accepted a £25m bid from Barca before selling the midfielder to Real.
Rosell and Laporta went on to split acrimoniously, but reports in Spain suggest that Rosell, a former Nike executive, is planning to spark a battle for the Barcelona presidency this summer, with an audacious plan to sign Ronaldo central to his bid. With Ronaldo positioned as their flagship footballer, it is understood that Nike would prefer him to move to Barcelona rather than adidas-sponsored Real, should he leave United.
Real president Ramon Calderon once again admitted today that their attempts to sign Ronaldo were unlikely to be successful unless United change their stance. He said: "The signing of Cristiano Ronaldo is impossible. We cannot do anything about it because his club do not wish to sell. "We do not want to force the issue because that is not the policy of Real Madrid when dealing with any club, especially not one that we consider a friend."
United chief executive David Gill remained insistent, however, that Ronaldo will not be leaving Old Trafford this summer. Gill said: "Our position is clear. Both myself and Sir Alex Ferguson stated it last week and that is all we have to say on the matter. Full stop."
Barcelona's move comes after reports today that Cristiano Ronaldo has told his agent, Jorge Mendes, that he wants to leave United to fulfil his "dream" of playing for Real Madrid. The Portugal international's wishes have been made clear to the Spanish giants who will offer him a deal worth £150,000 per week after tax, a contract that he feels is too good to refuse.
On Saturday, the double Footballer of the Year said that he would announce his decision regarding his one-off move to Madrid "in two or three days", however, it is now believed he will not talk to the world's media before Friday at the earliest.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is said to be furious about this latest development, but until the player comes out publicly to deny he wants to leave Old Trafford, which he has repeatedly refused to do, the speculation will continue, with the feeling growing that he does after all wish to depart the Premier League and European champions for pastures new.
It is believed that his compatriot Mendes and Real Madrid have been working on a strategy to overcome United's present resistance. However, seeing how the latter have already threatened to report their Spanish counterparts to football's world governing body, Fifa, and Ferguson has revealed the Glazer family would rather let the player rot in the reserves than sell him to their rivals, that may well prove problematical.
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MADRID: WE'LL PAY RONALDO £300,000 A WEEK
Real Madrid have upped their wage offer to Cristiano Ronaldo by 50 per cent and would make him the world’s highest-paid footballer on an incredible £300,000-a-week salary after tax.
The astonishing £15m-a-year contract is the real reason why Ronaldo’s head has been turned by Madrid in recent days. The five-year contract on the table is worth a mind-boggling £75m – after tax.
The deal is a once-in-a-lifetime offer that any player would find virtually impossible to turn down. Real have also made it clear that the huge offer will not be on the table in a year’s time.
It is now or never if Ronaldo wants to move to Madrid.
Real have reminded the player that they made a £10m-a-year offer to Kaka to quit Milan last summer. The then world player of the year turned them down and they have not come
knocking on his door this time.
They want Ronaldo now – or next summer it could be another emerging world superstar.
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300k?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?! oh my god it took my dad 2 month to earn that money in SGD and he can earn it in 1 freaking WEEK IN POUNDS!!! i wish i am his kids >_>
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Cristiano Ronaldo to accept world-record £300,000-a-week deal to join Madrid
Manchester United must face the real possibility that Cristiano Ronaldo has played his final match for the club after the Portuguese winger publicly declared his intention to join Real Madrid at the end of the European Championship.
Speaking from Portugal's training camp in the Swiss city of Neuchatel on Wednesday, Ronaldo made a keenly awaited statement on his future. The 23-year-old stated that he wanted to leave Old Trafford to sign for the Spanish champions if they made good on their promises of world record transfer fees and wages. Spanish media reports have placed the value of a Madrid offer to United at €100m and the player's salary at £15m a year.
"I want to play for Real Madrid, but only if it is true they are eager to pay me and Manchester United what they have been saying they will," said Ronaldo in an interview with the respected Brazilian website Terra. "However, it does not depend on me."
The issue of Ronaldo's future has been the dominant feature of Portugal's European Championship training camp, overshadowing the team's preparations and seeing questions raised about the player's state of mind. Hoping to prevent inquests at national team press conferences and post-match mixed zones, Ronaldo insisted that he would not speak about his choice of club again during the tournament.
"It is important to send a message," he said. "From now on I will not talk again about this until the end of the Euros. It is not worth asking me because I will not reply."
United have repeatedly stated that they will not allow Ronaldo to move this summer, but the club may now have to improve the five-year contract they agreed with the forward in April 2007. Given the scale of Madrid's offer, the player can expect to comfortably exceed the net €10m that Michael Ballack receives from Chelsea each year.
Meanwhile, in a further twist to this seemingly never-ending transfer saga, boardroom tensions at Barcelona could result in the Catalan giants fighting it out with Madrid for Ronaldo if the club's former vice-president, Sandro Rosell, succeeds in his bid to unseat the president, Joan Laporta, in a vote of confidence amongst Barca's members.
Laporta and Rosell worked together to win the presidency in 2003 and the two men drove the club's ultimately unsuccessful attempts to sign Beckham from United, who accepted a £25m bid from Barca before selling the midfielder to Madrid.
Rosell and Laporta went on to split acrimoniously, but reports in Spain suggest that Rosell, a former Nike executive, is planning to spark a battle for the Barcelona presidency this summer, with an audacious plan to sign Ronaldo central to his bid.
With Ronaldo positioned as their flagship footballer, it is understood that Nike would prefer him to move to Barcelona rather than adidas-sponsored Madrid, should he leave United.
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crazy.
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who would reject?
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tats v v tempting
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100M?? faster sell man....
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Don't understand what's the craze about ronaldo.
Real have nothing better to do,they can do better stuffs with that kind of $ donating to children with poverty.lol
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When Ronaldo leaves, we'll see his downfall and early retirement. Enough said.
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It's the worst kept secret. He never deny going to leave Man Utd so it's only a matter of time before he leaves.
It's just sad that no player now respects the contract that he signs.
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Lets be fair to the guy... If its really true and Real are really willing to pay him $300k pounds a week, then he should go... Honestly, he is getting about $120k and after tax about 90k a week from United... Compare to the $300k after tax, he will be making extra $210k per week... Who don't want?
On United's part, i won't feel too much disappointment cos imagine if they really do get $70 million pounds for one player, just one player... they can actually go out and buy 3 very good players with that cash... or 4 pretty good ones...
He has done well for United and if he wants to play in Spain, let him go... afterall, he is already 24... and he may not last more than 5 yrs with his strength being his speed... Not many wingers last at the top level pass 29...
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Originally posted by zocoss:
Lets be fair to the guy... If its really true and Real are really willing to pay him $300k pounds a week, then he should go... Honestly, he is getting about $120k and after tax about 90k a week from United... Compare to the $300k after tax, he will be making extra $210k per week... Who don't want?
On United's part, i won't feel too much disappointment cos imagine if they really do get $70 million pounds for one player, just one player... they can actually go out and buy 3 very good players with that cash... or 4 pretty good ones...
He has done well for United and if he wants to play in Spain, let him go... afterall, he is already 24... and he may not last more than 5 yrs with his strength being his speed... Not many wingers last at the top level pass 29...
well, true to a certain point, but can 70Mil get 3 good players who can score 40goals each or combined??
Given inflation, it would be enough to get one or even two..
How much Benezema would be sold now that Ronaldo is sold at 70M or even Messi??
End of day,what's the message send to the rest of team? if RM comes knocking, you go. Well, MUFC seems a feeder club to RM..We developed and sell.
And that sucks..
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CRISTIANO RONALDO has rocked Manchester United by insisting: I want to join Real Madrid.
The Portuguese winger dropped his bombshell on the eve of the European championships.
He will be offered incredible wages of £75million AFTER TAX over five years and the Spaniards are also prepared to pay a £75m transfer fee.
Ronaldo, 23, told respected Brazilian website Terra: “I would like to play for Real Madrid but only if it is true they are ready to pay what Manchester United ask of them. However, it does not depend on me.”
The loss of Ronaldo would be a huge blow to United and defender Rio Ferdinand immediately pleaded with him to stay at Old Trafford.
He said: “This team can get better but we need it to stay together.” Rio, in Nigeria promoting Education in Football, added: “We have worked hard to get to the position we are in and want to build on the success we have had.
''That means keeping all the players at the club. ”
Boss Alex Ferguson has maintained United would never sell their superstar.
But Ronaldo has always said he wanted to play for Real one day and the astonishing £300,000-a- week wages on offer could clinch the deal.
Ronaldo, who was withdrawn from a scheduled Euro 2008 Press conference in Geneva today, added: “From today I’m not going to talk about this topic with anyone.
“I’ll only talk about this again after the European Championships.”
Julio Gomes Filho, the journalist who interviewed him at Portugal’s training camp in Switzerland, has known Ronaldo since he was 17. He revealed: “Ronaldo wanted me to send his message out. He didn’t want to do it at a Press conference.”
But United are adamant they will not sell. A spokesman said: “Our position remains unchanged.
“We made our position clear last week that Cristiano Ronaldo has a contract with this club and is not going to be sold.”
Ronaldo, who hit 42 goals last season, had been on the verge of agreeing a new United deal but a source close to him admitted: “The amount of money Real are bandying around is staggering. There’s no doubt it has caused him to have a rethink.”
Relations between the two clubs are at rock bottom and United may report the Spaniards for making their pursuit of Ronaldo public.
Bernabeu president Ramon Calderon had conceded on Wednesday the signing of Ronaldo “seems impossible.”
But Ronaldo’s bombshell is sure to encourage them to step up the hunt.
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Originally posted by iceFatboy:
well, true to a certain point, but can 70Mil get 3 good players who can score 40goals each or combined??
Given inflation, it would be enough to get one or even two..
How much Benezema would be sold now that Ronaldo is sold at 70M or even Messi??
End of day,what's the message send to the rest of team? if RM comes knocking, you go. Well, MUFC seems a feeder club to RM..We developed and sell.
And that sucks..
Well, first of all... no one can guarantee he will score another 40 goals next season correct? And secondly, he is from Portugal, he grew up watching and following Spanish football... and since he wants to play in Spain so badly, why not let him go? Afterall, there is a saying that there is no point keeping an unhappy player in the squad right? and its not as tho United are not getting a handsome reward for him... $70m or $75m is alot for one player leh! The last time the record was made for a player was Zidine's time... Thats almost 7 to 8 yrs ago already...End of the day, the message i get is... If your club is smart enough and not as crazy as to pay $420k a week for one player's weekly salary (In United's case since they have to factor in the tax) to match Real's offer... Then I would say very good...
United fans should look at it this way and be happy about it... They paid $12m for him 5 yrs ago and he has done really well for them... Taking them all the way to the league and Champions league titles. Now if he really wants to go, cash in and let him go. Its not very offen they buy a player and his value goes up 6x after 5 yrs...
Hell, I will take this anytime compare to what if... Nani they bought at $14m to $17m and chances are 5 yrs from now he is worth less than half they paid for him?
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United should quickly get Nasri, Benzema etc....and sell Ronaldo XD
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Originally posted by deathscythe99:
United should quickly get Nasri, Benzema etc....and sell Ronaldo XD
must sell ronaldo for >100 million and nth less!
get benzema, arfa, nasri, alves and richards
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i think most of the united fans are rather excited about the prospect of the club pocketing a cool 75m pounds...and the young world class beaters we may get with that $$$
with that.we can get RB,LB,GK,MR,SC which the team needs for strengthening
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Originally posted by jonchao72:
must sell ronaldo for >100 million and nth less!
get benzema, arfa, nasri, alves and richards
Agree! haha.
We just need the current team to stay...add a few more quality signings for the defence, GK and striker positions and it's kinda good to go too :P
One man doesn't make a team (well, not all the time i guess.)