Ronaldo to Real Madrid

[red g]

As much as I hate Utd, and I really ****ing do, lets not kid ourselves that this is the beginning of the end for them, they have lost 1 player. They are better than a 1 player team despite what we may think. That 80mill may not make them a better team but they wont be far off. For me im pretty indifferent to this news, personally I think having 1 superstar in their team was ok for us as everything revolved around the whiny ****er, now, maybe, they will have more of a team ethic. Who knows but 1 thing is for sure, im not even thinking this is the end for them.

if they lose tevez to thats 102 goals over 2 years......

its not the beginning of the end and we all know when Beckham, stam and whoever else left we hvae predicted the end fo scum.

This is the first time though they have genuinely lost one of the worlds best players and yes they may well become a better team.......but Ronaldo papered over a lot of cracks over the last 2 years and i just cant see them being able to replace his quality.

this is a huge, huge blow for them 80m to replace tevez and Ronaldo with realistically the best i believe they can get is Benzema and not even sure how he will settle.

[Ben_Itez]

Shirts arent only €10 are they?

Perhaps 10 euros is the profit on each shirt.

[red g]

As much as I hate Utd, and I really ****ing do, lets not kid ourselves that this is the beginning of the end for them, they have lost 1 player. They are better than a 1 player team despite what we may think. That 80mill may not make them a better team but they wont be far off. For me im pretty indifferent to this news, personally I think having 1 superstar in their team was ok for us as everything revolved around the whiny ****er, now, maybe, they will have more of a team ethic. Who knows but 1 thing is for sure, im not even thinking this is the end for them.

here is a typical pro-ronaldo piece on him leaving

When Sir Alex Ferguson sold Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Andrei Kanchelskis in the summer of 1995, Alan Hansen famously warned "you win nothing with kids".

Back-to-back Premier League titles, the first as part of a Double, answered that.

When Eric Cantona retired just days after the 1997 season, the doom-mongers were out in force once again with plenty of mutterings about this being the 'end of an era'.

That time it took Ferguson slightly longer to adjust - after all that decision hadn't been of his own making - but within two years the Treble was delivered.

When first David Beckham then Ruud van Nistelrooy were sold to Real Madrid in 2003 and 2006 respectively the same doubts were raised, only to be banished in similar style.

So I suppose it should come as no surprise that with the impending departure of Cristiano Ronaldo, the words 'end of an era' are already being liberally sprinkled around.

Let me first make one thing clear - even, or should I say especially, in this modern-day football world, every player, World Player of the Year or not, has their price.

Liverpool fans may well think Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are untouchable.

But if a team - Real Madrid or anyone - tabled a £100million bid for either can you seriously countenance the possibility of the suits at Anfield turning it down?

Of course, the cases of Gerrard and Torres are different to Ronaldo in that the Portuguese star has always dreamed of wearing the all-white, but you get my drift.

So what of Ronaldo's departure from Old Trafford?

Well as things stand, United are palpably weakened though Tony Gale's assertion on Sky that it isn't good business because they haven't already signed a replacement doesn't really stand up given it's hard to imagine they're not some way down that road.

That Ronaldo is a quite brilliant footballer is clear to even his harshest of critics.

Though 2008/09 was not as personally memorable as the previous 12 months, his 18 Premier League goals was a tally bettered only by Nicolas Anelka while his 26 in all competitions was more than any other player in the English top flight contributed.

On his day, he is simply unstoppable. Whether it's a gravity-defying free-kick, outlandish stepovers that leave defenders with twisted blood or towering headers not seen from a winger for many a year, the boy wonder has got the lot.

But when things aren't going his way - whether it's the flicks and tricks not working, him perceiving he isn't getting enough service from his team-mates or the referee not 'protecting' him - he can be, and this is no exaggeration, a liability.

Towards the tail end of last season, against both Aston Villa and Porto, Ronaldo played a key role in giving away goals by squandering possession and not tracking back.

On the second of those occasions, a pretty sizeable chunk of the Old Trafford crowd booed his next few touches - a rare occurrence of United fans turning on their own.

Even Ferguson took the unusual step of commenting publicly on a deficiency in one of his players, saying: "We don't accept that [giving the ball away cheaply] at any time."

Don't forget, too, that as United's statement reveals Ronaldo had again expressed a desire to leave - and ultimately there's no point keeping an unhappy player particularly given the efforts the club, and Ferguson in particular, put in on that front last summer.

That grubby 'will he won't he' saga, an episode that merely served to massage an already sizeable ego, shows why there's plenty of United fans merely shrugging their shoulders and pointing to a £67million profit making this a good deal.

And for once, it's not the classic revisionism adopted by a lot of football fans.

You know the sort - a great player goes (usually to a bigger club) and in an attempt to ease their pain, fans pretend he was never really as important as he actually was.

Well I doubt you'll find any United supporters playing down Ronaldo's impact in what has continued to be a glittering era of success under Ferguson at Old Trafford.

But there's certainly no reason why this is the end of that glorious era.

Ferguson is the master of creating great team after great team and you can bet he already has something up his sleeve to offset the loss of Ronaldo.

Antonio Valencia is reported to be keen to join United from Wigan while Franck Ribery is among a string of others who will no doubt now be heavily linked with the club.

None can possibly fill the boots of Ronaldo in the same way he himself couldn't emulate Beckham and he, in turn, wasn't a direct replacement for Kanchelskis.

But as Ferguson has proved time and time again, evolution is the key whether it be a change in formation or a more subtle approach to the way the game is played.

Ronaldo's departure opens the way for Wayne Rooney - a man most United fans see as tougher to replace than the Portuguese flyer - to be pushed through the middle and you only have to see his recent performances for England for a sign as to the danger he poses.

After finding his feet in M16, Dimitar Berbatov looks set to get the chance to form a partnership with Rooney as devastating as the one he had with Robbie Keane.

Behind them, perhaps Ferguson will dispense with the flowing formation he has adopted in recent months, particularly if Carlos Tevez doesn't make his loan move permanent.

Indeed we may not know until the first game of the new season just how Ferguson's United will shape up in the post-Ronaldo era.

But anyone writing their obituaries already does so prematurely.

Ronaldo has been as influential - in his own unique way - as the likes of Cantona, Roy Keane, Bryan Robson and Peter Schmeichel before him.

But history shows us their departures didn't mark the end for United - and neither will his.

[Shanks]

Any info on his weekly wage?

I reckon it must be in the region of £200K.

[Ben_Itez]

Yeah i heard 200k a week. Which makes 10.4 million a year.

So over say a 6 year deal (like what Kaka signed) that's an extra 60 million over the duration of his contract plus bonuses.

So overall he'll cost Madrid in the region of 150 million over his 6 year contract

[Shaggy]

You put your transfer in
Your transfer out
In out in out you **** the Mancs about
You do the Cristiano and you change your mind
That's what it's all about
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
Knees bent
Arms stretched
Dive dive dive

[wiw]

Brilliant

[Craig_H]

Any info on his weekly wage?

I reckon it must be in the region of £200K.

It's just under £183k p/w.

[Reece]

Sorry Shaggy but I'm nicking that

[Leyton388]

Now someone tell Parry that Ronaldo was not worth the £1m signing on fee he was after! Along with the sale of the club this has to go down as one of his worst blunders!

[Craig_H]

You put your transfer in
Your transfer out
In out in out you **** the Mancs about
You do the Cristiano and you change your mind
That's what it's all about
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
Knees bent
Arms stretched
Dive dive dive

I SOOOOO want that to catch on and be sung next season Superb.

[wiw]

Now someone tell Parry that Ronaldo was not worth the £1m signing on fee he was after! Along with the sale of the club this has to go down as one of his worst blunders!

I was under the impression we thought we had signed him, only for Utd to blow our bid out of the water?

[Leyton388]

I was under the impression we thought we had signed him, only for Utd to blow our bid out of the water?

No it is in Thommo's book that we had thought he had signed but for parry to **** about for a week or so as he didn't want to give Ronaldo the £1m signing on fee as he thought it might upset some other players and as a result of parry ****ing about united stepped in.

The next thing Thommo and Houllier knew about it was watching skysports in melwood when the news broke.

[Rigadon]

You put your transfer in
Your transfer out
In out in out you **** the Mancs about
You do the Cristiano and you change your mind
That's what it's all about
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
Knees bent
Arms stretched
Dive dive dive

[Ben_Itez]

You put your transfer in
Your transfer out
In out in out you **** the Mancs about
You do the Cristiano and you change your mind
That's what it's all about
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
OOOOOOOOOOH Ronaldo is a ******
Knees bent
Arms stretched
Dive dive dive

Mega-ace!!

Apparently foreign players only pay 23% tax for the first five years in Madrid (if not the whole of Spain). So if he's on 200k he'll be clearing 150k a week in his back pocket