And, according to the Glazers, he won't be the only world-class player coming to Old Trafford.
The club's owners on Friday released a rare statement to allay Reds fans' fears that the money from the world-record transfer of Ronaldo to Real Madrid would be used to pay back some of the debt hanging over United.
"Only the paranoia of some supporters would lead you to believe the owners are not going to continue investing in the team," read the statement.
"A substantial number of world-class players have been brought to the club in the past few years and that will still be the case.
"Sir Alex Ferguson is in total control of his squad. He is empowered to make whatever decisions he thinks are in the best interests of Manchester United. That continues to be the case.
"The fact is Cristiano Ronaldo decided, after six years, that it was time to move on and the manager said OK.
"The idea that United are motivated by a debt burden is just not true. It is not an issue."
Although Fergie is on holiday, he is keen to seal a deal for Valencia (pictured), with Wigan chairman Dave Whelan admitting it could be done in the next week.
"United have been in touch with us and we will be starting negotiations very shortly, I would imagine," said Whelan.
Develop
"I think they were waiting to see whether Ronaldo went to Spain. Things will develop over the next seven to 14 days.
"Sir Alex had him watched practically every match last year. He has got a very strong interest in him.
"We are not desperate to sell Antonio. If I can keep that lad, I'm going to keep him. He is a brilliant player. But I would never stand in the way of a footballer who can go to bigger and better clubs, and you can't get bigger and better than United.
"If Antonio says to me: `Mr Chairman, I want to go to United' and we get the right fee - the deal will be done."
A verbal offer of £16m is already understood to have been lodged by United, but Real Madrid are also keen on the 23-year-old.
Meanwhile, another summer target, Franck Ribery, will cost the Reds around three times as much, with his Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness saying: "We will only negotiate under certain conditions. Namely, when another club does something crazy."
Meanwhile, Roma striker Mirko Vucinic insists he wants to remain at the Stadio Olimpico despite reported interest from United.
Speculation has been rife that Vucinic is one of the players United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is considering as a replacement for Real Madrid bound Cristiano Ronaldo.
Reports in Italy suggest informal contact has been made between the clubs for the Montenegro forward but Vucinic, who recently signed a new four-year deal, is happy to stay at the capital club.
“It’s certainly pleasing that a great club like that are interested in me,” he told Corriere dello Sport. “But I have only heard about it from the newspapers.
“At the moment I’m only thinking about relaxing by the seaside with my family.
“I’ve just signed a new contract and I’d like to stay at Roma.”
Who should United bring in? Have your say.
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florentino perez, LEGEND (13/06/2009 at 14:04)
i was going to ask for his autograph, before realising i can't stand the fella.
his he picking him for madrid or for united? thats the million dollar question.
One of the "Paranoid supporters", Essex (13/06/2009 at 14:36)
When did this suddenly happen?
And when Fergie asks about the price of Benzema or Ribery anyone with half a brain knows that answer will be "£80 million pounds please."
Top players no longer come to United.This proves it.
For the first time in my time supporting the reds since '92 the bitters are laughing at us and I really don't like it.The Glazers are taking the rip out of us die-hards if they think that the debt they've built up "isn't an issue."
Why else are we selling our best player and replacing him with players from Wigan?Why else do we have a compulsory purchase scheme on cup tickets?Why are the season tickets going up year on year?
Pat Crerand was right the other day on Talksport.I'm blaming the people of America for this.
I mean come on-Ronnys replacement-Valencia from WIGAN???????
ChateThailand, Bangkok Thailand (13/06/2009 at 14:40)
Ribery YES, BUT NO for Valencia....
Absalutely, Antonio Valencia is just a good player, but not a player who can really replace Ronaldo (That's why at the moment, apart from us, no one want to sign him). His calibre is no where near the Portugese superstar (Pace, Skill, Scoring rate, etc.). In addition, if you want to find a player to wear the famous No. 7 shirt, He's got to be a good looking player which I'm afraid to say that ANtonio Valencia is not that person.
Ribery, with his quality, is a real top class player who can really replace Ronaldo (That's why Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, etc. all want to sign him). If the price is too high, we should turn to Arron Lennon who really destroy us when we play against Tottenham this season. Lennon's pace is terrific and will be very useful for our counter-attack game.
For the player to wear No. 7 shirt, I think Karim Benzema should be the one.
BrewDevil, Clemson,USA (13/06/2009 at 14:56)
Please no Ribery. If we spend crazy money on that mercenary malcontent fom the French Foreign Legion it will be more than crazy, it will be PATHOLOGICAL! We've enriched Bayern enough. Let them sit on him longer. And I'm not sure he's as cut out for the epl as some think. After all, he did choose what he thought was the easiest league to play in and still get CL exposure, didn't he? He could have gone to the epl (which he said he wasn't too keen on, if memory serves) or la liga but chose the most pedestrian league possible. it seems he wants the patina of success, but on the easiest terms possible. And if we're already going to overpay for Valencia (17.5 mil, give me a break!) what do we need Ribery for? And if we can't get Nani to understand and execute what is required, that is as much a failure of our coaching staff as it is a failure on Nani's part.
danny, WILMSLOW (13/06/2009 at 14:58)
g1lly blue (13/06/2009 at 15:08)
Dont think so, Good yes World class No.
What happened to Ribbery?
paul robinson (13/06/2009 at 15:13)
paul robinson (13/06/2009 at 15:19)
bernie , manchester (13/06/2009 at 15:33)
Mustafa Say (13/06/2009 at 15:52)
Brian, Brussels (13/06/2009 at 16:21)
DC, New York (13/06/2009 at 16:21)
Aside from that, I'm not too fussed that Ronaldo has decided to move on. Thanks for the memories, we turned him into the best player on the planet and we enjoyed it immensely, but I think by choosing Madrid he has chosen money and lifestyle over the chance to become one of the world's all-time greats. Just who is the manager of Madrid? Who calls the shots? How long before the 'water carriers' of the team get up in arms when 200k per week Ronaldo refuses to work hard to win the ball back? How long before a no-nonsense monster team like Liverpool pressure their attack out of the game and run roughshod all over their pathetic defence?
Meanwhile, watch us transform formation next year - towards the end of the season it became obvious that SAF was unsure of how to use our resources most effectively, and led to the disastrously inadequate tactics in the CL final. SAF will be looking at the final and hoping to unearth an Iniesta or Xavi somewhere, a diminutive, flitting midfielder who just refuses to give the ball away - Modric anyone? - and pair him with our own water carriers. I can see a serious rethink of tactics and formation which will hopefully lead to more attacking football - while the stats over the past two years suggest Ronaldo carried us to success, it was more that our play attempted to release Ronaldo to display his own finishing skills as much as possible. Hopefully his departure will allow everyone else to grow in stature and start having a pop from everywhere, I anticipate a return to the days of literally swarming all over the opposition. Of course, the tactically astute geniuses here will inform me that 'the days of playing that way are over' but one can dream!
DC, New York (13/06/2009 at 16:28)
BALL AND BAT, ALL OVER (13/06/2009 at 16:36)
For a srong striker for around 4 millionm ask bayern to off load luca toni he is well worth it standing at 6@5" hes soldid and skillfull the goals would go in with him alongside rampant wazza.
The midfield needs bolstering ribery quoted at 90 million by the sun pmsl yeah ok not worth 20 million even.
Get tosic playing and lijac too the da silva bros possebom and others and they will shine with 4 or 5 new signings ,i agree with the glen johnsen signing id sign him tomorrow he is showing his class.
Gianni Rossi (13/06/2009 at 16:56)
Nani should either be sold or given a run of games, I've always felt when played he tries to do too much on the ball as wants to impress. Playing him for one game then leaving him out for the next five is no good to either him or the team. Personally I think he has a lot of quality he just needs a run of games to show his worth or if the manager no longer believes in him, he should be sold.
Ed from Davyhulme, Manchester (13/06/2009 at 17:02)
One of the "Paranoid supporters", Essex (13/06/2009 at 17:02)
what I'm saying that as the biggest club in the world we are selling our best player to strengthen another massive rival..how stupid is that?
How can we still claim to be bigger than Madrid when we constantly sell our best players to them?RVN,Beckham and now Ronny.
How come they never come the other way?
Even the bitters signed Robinho from them!!!
I think that the Glazers are underestimating the effect that the debt is having on us.When was the alst time were in the market for a TOP world player?Torres would've been an amazing signing-the dippers got him...?Why did we not try and sign him?
Kaka came and went....Villa.....and what if Madrid are after Vidic?
Are we in a position to resist?
Let's just hope that SAF gets the money from the transfer of Ronny we need to replace players like VDS,Giggs,Scholes,Neville for starters.
KingCantona7, Ashton (13/06/2009 at 17:18)
Jaco, South Africa (13/06/2009 at 17:31)
Red Dawn (13/06/2009 at 17:34)
I would ignore all the talk that Valencia is Ronaldo's replacement. Putting it simply, Valencia is just a player the manager wants to sign.
He is a good player, but I don't value him any more than £8 million, maybe £10. However, people questioned the price paid for Carrick too and it turned out to be worth it. Only time will tell if Valencia is worth the £17 million we're 'supposed' to have offered.
Valencia will only be the start with the signings. I expect us to sign another two quality players along with him, but it's never easy signing top quality players because there will always be competition for their signature, they will cost ALOT of money, the players themselves may not want to join, plus the the clubs they are contracted to may not want to sell.
One thing will say though, with Fergie armed with £80 million +, we are definitely going to pay over the odds for every player that comes in, unless they have a reasonable buyout clause.
I heard today that we've offered Tevez the No.7 shirt to remain at Old Trafford. Don't know if that's true or not, it's just a rumour floating about.
By the way, what did Paddy Crerrand say on TalkSPORT?
I wouldn't listen to talkSPORT if you paid me. Wouldn't suprise me if they made up the 'rumour' about Tevez agreeing to join City just to attract listeners.
Cantona's Collar, West Lancs (13/06/2009 at 17:34)
Ronny was Ronny, Becks was Becks and so-on / so-forth.
To castigate the player at this stage is a bit premature.
Post-Ronny syndrome will subside when we start "banging-em in" next season !
Cantona's Collar, West Lancs (13/06/2009 at 17:39)
(Finding Eric) last night ? Is it as good as the reviews sez it is ?
Ravi Soodi (13/06/2009 at 18:04)
first of all we're not buying valencia to replace ronnie, that just sounds stupid. we're obviously buying him because even with ronnie we had very few decent wingers. nani hasnt developed, parks not a real threat and rooney should be playing behind the frontman. so a proper winger was needed regardless.
secondly you talk about us strengthening a rival...thats always going to happen, who else are u going to sell ronnie too if he wants to move on to spain... almeria??!!
and as for RVN fergie wanted to sell him and it was justified, we won the PL the next year, the PL and the CL the year after and the PL and got to the CL final the year after that. who you gona mention next.....gabi heinze?!!
bottom line is ronnie wanted to leave and what do you expect fergie to do, hold him against his will until he's 30 and then sell him for £2m?
at the end of the day everyone is happy, ronnie gets his dream move, real get their man and we get £80m which is an amazing amount of money. benzema, aguero, ribery, silva, robben...any two of these will do just fine. then rooney can do what he does for his country playing in his favoured role. trust me, rooney would be a far bigger loss than ronnie, you just dont see his best cos he plays for the team and not himself.
Cantona's Collar, West Lancs (13/06/2009 at 18:32)
manu expert (13/06/2009 at 18:42)
benzema-35m
gourcuff-25m
silva-20m that lot from the money we received from ronaldo.
then swap berbaflop for luca modric as i think he could do what xavi & iniesta do for barca.
and finally buy marek hamsik (napoli) from the annual transfer money we get from glazers.