Fergie holds Ronaldo key

Stuart Mathieson

May 19, 2008

Cristiano Ronaldo

SIR Alex Ferguson holds the key to Cristiano Ronaldo's United future.

In the latest twist surrounding the career of the double Footballer of the Year, the 23-year-old world No1 has hinted he'll stay for as long as the United manager is in charge.

It is a massive boost ahead of the Champions League final with Chelsea on Wednesday as the Reds flew to Moscow.

"The boss is the reason I am here in the club," says Cristiano. "He helped me a lot, not just this season but the seasons before. I feel very good at the club. I want to carry on like that.

"I have many friends here in the club. I am five years in the club and I know everyone now - the staff, the players, and I feel like this is my home."

The see-sawing nature of Ronaldo's future was further complicated last week when he told Spanish TV he had a dream to play in La Liga.

Linked

Real Madrid are the headline suitors and are constantly linked United's 41-goal winger who signed a five-year contract with the Reds in April 2007.

Real coach Bernd Schuster has played down his side’s chances of tempting Ronaldo away this summer, insisting he would rather spend his time thinking about more realistic targets.

Madrid have long been admirers of Ronaldo and speculation in Spain has been rife that the Primera Liga champions could be set to launch a summer bid for the Portuguese star, with reports of a £100million bid being mooted.

Madrid general director Miguel Angel Arroyo also claimed earlier this week that his club had the financial clout to bring Ronaldo to the Bernabeu.

However, with United unlikely to want to part with one of their most prized assets and the 23-year-old having agreed a five-year contract extension at Old Trafford just last year, signing the in-form winger appears unlikely.

When asked following his side’s season-ending 5-2 win over Levante yesterday whether he would like to have Ronaldo at the Bernabeu, the German said: “I would like to have a lot of players. But I don’t think that it is possible that Cristiano Ronaldo will be with us.

“I don’t waste time on these things. I think about who could come and not on speculation. We are going to look at what we need and then see.”

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Demo, Glossop (19/05/2008 at 11:01)

i think both fergie and carlos' time at the club will determine how long ronnie stays with us! hopefully for a good few years to come

andythered perth (19/05/2008 at 12:44)

god will stay with united for at least the next 4 seasons as i see SAF being with united that long. add to that the depth and age of our current squad and the players that will be lining up to be added toit ( every 1 wants to play for winners) why would ronaldo leave united.
if he left for a spanish club, what chance would he have to play in front of 75000 fans week in and out.
if he did sign for barca or madrid , the players they would have to sign to augment their squads to uniteds quality would bankrupt them .
fergie is no mug, i see only the rest of this decade and the best part of the next being glory years for this current squad and the players fergie will sign.
cmon you reds

better off red (19/05/2008 at 13:32)

If he wants to play in La Liga, then so what?
As long as we have the best years out of him, then let him live his dream.
Just hope that we have him for ten more years!

george (19/05/2008 at 13:32)

Manchester United is a great club.There is nowhere else to play.

Stephen Carr (19/05/2008 at 13:49)

In fairness we always knew Ronaldo wouldn't be at the club for life which makes it all the more important to enjoy the time he does spend with us. The days of one player staying with a club for over 10 years has long gone. If we get two more years out of ronaldo I will be happy and will wish him good luck (and pray we don't draw Madrid in the ECL). Lets be grateful we have him now thats what Gemma did.!

RichieW, Malaga, Spain (19/05/2008 at 14:21)

I think George has hit the nail on the head there. Where else does one go from Manchester United, other than down? I think this statement is perhaps truer now than it has been since the times of Best, Law and Charlton. Utd are in the final of the Champions League and have retained the Premiership. Ronaldo is part of a team that could quite feesibly eclipse the achievements of Real Madrid and other so-called big clubs. He is currently at the club that is doing the biz. Niether Madrid nor Barca are in the final. The tides have changed and this year semms to indicate that The Premiership is the cutting edge. From a football stance, it would not make sense for him to leave Utd at the moment. Ronaldo has everything to gain from staying with this latest Utd side. In Sir Alex and Carlos, he has his mentors, one of them being from his homeland.
I stand by this comment, if any player does not want to play for Manchester United, then let them go. However, I think he´ll stay on at Utd, for a few years at least. I live in Spain and find La Liga tedious compared with the fast flowing crunch of The Premiership. From what I´ve seen. Madrid are not what they used to be. Utd are getting better!!! Good luck on Wednesday evening boys!!!

warlock, Toronto (19/05/2008 at 14:26)

Lets face it guys,CR is not going to retire at Man U...Infact I think we are going to lose him the moment we have a bad season or he runs into poor form.....

Sean, NYXMC (19/05/2008 at 14:43)

Cristiano is here to stay - MU are building a team around him. I'm more interested in who will be arriving this summer. I read yesterday that Micah Richards said that Paul Scholes is his "favourite player of all time". It would be good to see him in red next season - maybe Paul should get on the phone...

george (19/05/2008 at 15:20)

RichieW; You're right! We're in CL Final and League Champions with a team that's two years of it's peak.They're improving.

joey (19/05/2008 at 17:15)

Does anyone see the irony - We lost Ronaldinho in 2003 but signed Ronaldo for half the price, since then Ronaldinho has scored 92 times for Barca, Cristiano 91, but as Cristiano takes on the mantle of best player in the world Ronaldinho fades away.... Not that getting ronaldinho would have been a bad idea, but things did not turn out too badly...

jazza13, Auckland, New Zealand (20/05/2008 at 00:50)

if Ronnie wants to play in the la liga then let him... Give him another year at United. Then send him on a one year loan to madrid... if he likes playing there let him. But I reckon he'll miss OT way too much.

REDSEADOG, lovely thank's (20/05/2008 at 11:09)

George once you have played for man u as you rightly put it its only downward from them on unless you come back like sparky huges did,that guy sparky saw the light.

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