United braced for new Ronaldo raid in 2010
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Manchester United braced for new Ronaldo raid as Real Madrid presidential hopefuls are set to make him their No 1 target
Another hurdle: Cristiano Ronaldo is still in Real Madrid's long-term planning.
Real Madrid are set to reopen their public courtship of Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo. United may have hoped the saga was over but sources in Spain suggest that the Ronaldo will be at the centre of a power struggle at the Bernabeu.
Madrid president Ramon Calderon has closed the door on very public attempts to sign the winger in the short term. But Sportsmail understands that Florentino Perez is expected to stand for election for Calderon's job with a pledge of trying to sign Ronaldo.
The well-connected 'Confidential' column in Catalan newspaper Sport reports that Perez even has a verbal agreement with the player's agent Jorge Mendes that Ronaldo would be ready to leave Old Trafford by the time of the 2010 elections.
The pledge is likely to be such a vote-winner that Calderon is expected to follow suit and declare he would also try to sign the former Sporting Lisbon star - despite the risk of angering Manchester United once again.
To make things even more messy, Barcelona also hold presidential elections on the summer of 2010, with former director Sandro Rossell set to stand for election with a pledge to take the 23-year-old to the Nou Camp.
Top honours: Ronaldo is passed the Club World Cup trophy by team-mate Nemanja Vidic.
Ronaldo recently said he was happy to stay at Old Trafford despite agitating for a move to Spain last summer.
A Spanish newspaper close to Perez last month claimed that Madrid had a secret agreement to sign Ronaldo next summer, which has been denied by United and the player.
The leak has been interpreted as some observers as trying to destabalise any approach by Calderon for Ronaldo before the elections in 18 months' time.
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Aiyoh go lah, by then ego too big for the club liao