May 16
Ronaldo to Madrid — Again
Real Madrid have Robinho, Reyes and Robben, off the top of my head, for wingers. They also have a fairly bloated squad, which again, isn’t very new. They just won their 31st league title. They are also among the richest clubs in the world.
So, surely they would have some class?
But no. Why would someone want to be normal and do boring stuff like, I don’t know, play by UEFA rules regarding legally approaching players? I mean why would someone want to do that when you have a battering ram that goes by the name of the Spanish media at your disposal? When it comes to a player linked with Real Madrid, ‘No’ is not an answer the press over there would accept. [I also have it on good authority that No in English translates to No in Spanish]
So they would set off to schedule an interview with the Portuguese winger, again. And what do you know: the wing wizard, for once, made a comment that lets doubts sink in. Mission accomplished, the Iberian blokes head back to the mainland, and a cloud of uncertainty envelops OT. Well done Antena 3. Kindly collect your Pullitzer from the cashier’s desk at the Megastore.
A little dramatic, but here’s the thing: Real Madrid, you are a bunch of disgraceful cunts! [I tried my best to look for other words from the slang vocabulary, with little success.]
OK, I’ve got that off my chest, so let me talk something sobering. Ronaldo has been quoted all over the press as saying that he might consider his future after the Champions’ League. Now while I know, deep in my heart, that Ronaldo will leave United at some point in the future it disappoints me to see him put his immediate future in doubt — most crucially ahead of the Champions’ League final. Why can’t he say ‘no’ just another time till the CL final gets over with and then talk whatever he wants?
I’ve had this nagging feeling that a player like Ronaldo, who is clearly driven by the need to succeed and win awards, — both personal and for the team; and he makes no pretences about it — could feel that he’s won enough, if we were to win Wednesday’s final, and decide to move on after staying at OT for one more season.
I would be very disappointed if he decided to jump ship immediately after winning Wednesday’s final.
Remember, my point is not debating whether Ronaldo was misquoted or not; everyone is talking about it, papers have carried actual quotes about what he said — so I see little point in debating what he actually said or in parsing his words out to overanalyse.
But where does this leave us? Considering the amount of wages he’s on and the length of his contract we are always in a strong position when it comes to negotiations. Personally, I am of the opinion that Ronaldo must stay for another season at United because, at the moment, we can’t replace him. Give us even £200m, we won’t be able to find a someone who fits our system and can readily settle in. Unless Madrid offer us £800m, which would almost instantly wipe off our debts, I don’t see any point selling him now.
The one season he stays, I hope, should help the likes of Nani and Anderson mature and provide us with options if Ron is to leave the club.
The influx of foreigners, for all its merits, does have a problem when it comes to club loyalty. You won’t have a Rooney or Rio linked endlessly to Spain or Italy. Nor would they go around professing their dream to play in Spain; which is why it is a part of the reason, other than money, for Flamini and Hleb moving clubs. Arsenal do have a bigger challenge in keeping their players. If there was a bigger case for having a British core of players, it is this. [And before you put your arguments to the contrary, remember, I said a core of British players -- not for all eleven players to be Brit]
For the moment, though, let’s spend time dreaming up ways to bring about the ultimate ruin of Real Madrid. For a start let’s hope global warming causes the Bernabeu to become a cold wasteland littered with animal remains, with weather so extreme that Siberians would shudder.
Amen.
Related items from Red Rants:
- How’s the latest episode of the Ronaldo-Madrid soap opera an ‘exclusive’?
- Breaking News: United accept 80m Ronaldo bid
- Perez would ‘welcome’ Ronaldo — that’ll be £70m, thank you.
- Ronaldo is really two humans in one body
- Man Utd v West Ham: Preview
Tags: Manchester United News
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Here is the Time article which mentions about his GF ‘Nereida Gallardo’, and another article that he would propose.
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As for Real Madrid, I wrote in yesterday’s post that FIFA and UEFA should be approached by United and charges of tampering must be laid down at the feet of Senior Calderon and all his henchmen at Real Madrid. Enough is enough already. FIFA, do your job and and make an example of this very fat and stinky cat once and for all. Discourage the tampering tactics that this club uses because it feels that everyone and every team have a price. Fining Real means little. Special sanctions and suspensions like one year removed from the Champions League or points demotion in their domestic league should work wonders. It certainly brought some humility to Juventus. They are a disgrace and their tactics and illegal activities are and outrage and must not continue for fear of totally ruining the great game. It is not Real Madrid’s god given right to possess every great football player alive at some point in their careers. God I despise their bloated arrogance and idiotic feeling of superiority over everyone else. They need to be taught a lesson and I’m bold enough to say that Ronaldo needs to be made an example of to. Refuse to sell him even if it hurts him and he pouts. I’d rather sit him on the bench for a year before I sold him. And then, I would sell him to another Spanish club like Barcelona before I gave Madrid the time of day. By this time he will be unhappy enough with the example we have made of him that he will welcome a transfer to any club. But put in the transfer clause that the club that he is sold to cannot sell him to real Madrid for another three years or so. Teach both of them a lesson. Do that or demand not a penny less than 150 million. I also agree with RR that we should not let him go no earlier than one year from now. Ronaldo out of respect should give United a year to recover from the shock and to prepare for his departure. I twill take time to find and secure the replacement or replacements to the team that will be needed to leave the Ronaldo era behind. This cannot happen this off season as it is very last second. All the more reason why United should sign Ashevin as he would be a decent piece in that reshaping process.
RR; You make a lot of sense about the need to make the team have a larger core of British players. Bayern Munich has always had that same belief in Germany. No matter the fact that they will go out and buy a Ribery, Toni, MacKaay, van Bommell, Lucio etc. They have always been the first to raid other German clubs for the best in German talent. They understand the volatile nature of buying foreign player and that is why I was shocked when they signed Toni. I actually felt Ribery would fit in better but Toni also comes fro a country and culture that doesn’t have to many players move abroad. Italians get very homesick and in fact Toni felt like that early in the year. Rumors started that he wanted to go back to Italy. Now those rumors have ended for the time being because of his great season and because he has found a way to fit in and enjoy life in Munich. I don’t expect it to last though. I see him playing one more season before the lure of big bucks leads him to Milan or Inter.
That is also why I suggested to you last week that you consider a post talking about Blatter’s proposal for the 6and 5 rule limiting the number of foreigners to start for every European team. Since then the motion was rejected so the topic is dead but still, the notion remains and it brings further credence to your theory that United should have a larger nucleus of British born talent. I have to say that I agree long term with that but disagree short term. More British talent would guarantee more harmony and more loyalty, that’s for sure. However, and this is a big however, this policy would weaken our ability to compete in Europe. It would also limit our chances of competing against the big 3 in the BPL. Lets face it, we already have a far larger contingent of British players than do the other three challengers to our crown. Does Britain have the quality talent to replace the foreign talent we already have and that we will need to defeat Chelsea, Madrid and Barcelona. I mean we are going up against Team Spain in Liverpool, Team France in Arsenal and Team UN at Chelsea. Team England can best be defined by Aston Villa and they are miles apart from the big 4. I seriously don’t think that going British is the prudent or smart thing to do short term. But where it is the smart thing to do is by signing up every young British prospect that catches our eye. Ramsey was a good signing. We need to find the Richards’ Bale’s, Walcott’s, Agbondalahor’s of the British game before all those other clubs or we need to take the risk and pay the price early on to get them. Our fortunes certainly will not improve if we let the Portuguese contingent eventually sign for Spanish teams and we then replace them with the Frank Lampard’s , Gareth Barry’s and Michael Owen’s of the world. Youth is the key. Unfortunately we will not have Fergie around to manage this transition to a core British side so it is a very risky undertaking if it is done.
This brings me to my final point. A change in player purchasing tactics would mean a major change in managerial and coaching tactics. Again I emphasize the fact that a core British team is probably doomed in Europe. Perhaps the right manager can prevent that from happening. At present the team has been structured in a way to make it easy for for Carlos Queiroz to take over from Fergie. If we went British, then our style would have to change and the necessity to have a manager who was home grown would be highly advisable. We aren’t talking England here. Capello is a major risk that may or may not pan out, United need to find a long term solution and long term direction for the team. All of a sudden the name of Martin O’Neill starts sounding very good to me. Or even Mark Hughes or Roy Keane. And if it won’t be a Brit, then get a manager who is foreign but speaks fluent English and has experience in the British game like a Klinsmann or Advocaat. But stay away from the managers who speak the native tongue but require a large transfer kitty and want foreign based players. the one exception to the rule is Mourinho. Why? Because he demands and get unrequited loyalty from his players. The foreign players as well as the English ones (except maybe Terry) absolutely loved him and would go to war for him. He is a rare commodity. We also need to find foreign players who do not have a blood lust for Spain or Italy. Latin players grow up as boys who dream to play for big clubs in these countries. Go after players in countries that are known for being football factories and who don’t have players who are built with that same lust for the tango. Eastern Europeans, Germans, Northern Europeans, Dutch players have come to England and many have stayed for many years. Schmeichel, Solksjaer, Bergkamp, Riijse, Lehamnn, Hamann are just examples of players who loved playing in England. We need to find those kinds of players. Talent is not enough. Attitude and a desire to play in the England is a must. Go for players whose dream as a child was to play for Manchester United, not Madrid, Barcelona or Milan.
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[Grognard]
I forgot about the Blatter 6-5 topic. I’ll put it up over the weekend. And Barcelona is no saintly club. Ask Arsenal when they went tapping up Henry. The Spanish media is split into two: one that caters to Real and the other that caters to Barcelona. They are both loathsome in their transfer dealings.
Problem is, since they do a lot of this through the media, you can’t directly implicate the clubs in question. It’s very underhanded, but that’s how they play the game and sadly we can’t do much about it.
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The most important factor for Ronaldo is not his girlfriend, his mother, his dreams or his goals in his career. The most important person here is, ladies and gentlemen, SIR ALEX FERGUSON! He is like a father to Ronaldo, he helped him when no-one else did(read:2006) and he has always been talking highly of Ronaldo, calling him the best player in the world, taking the risk of selling Ruud instead of Ronny in 2006 and making him the player he is today. Ronaldo owes everything to Fergie and I believe, I scream out: I BELIEVE!!, that Ronaldo will not leave until Fergie retires or thinks that it is for the best of the club.
But if he was to leave next summer or something like that, I would not want him to be replaced by someone like Valencia of Wigan or another “cheap”, non-first class player. We would need a top class winger, from the top shelf. My pick would be Ricardo Quaresma. I watch Porto every week, I like the way they play and after what Ive seen of him, I think Quaresma is the best winger in the world, only behind our precious Ronaldo. I love the way he uses the outside of his right boot to cross and shoot. His presision is amazing, he can find a player from his own team 9/10 times when he crosses. A player I admire and cant stop speaking highly enough of, but I love Ronaldo and I want him to stay at least for 1 year. VIVA RONALDO!
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RR; You can implicate the clubs for dirty dealing if the quotes come directly from assholes like Calderon. As bad as the Spanish media is, I seriously doubt they would misquote Calderon for fear of his wrath. After all, they are working together in this conspiracy to deprive us of our greatest asset.
As for the 6-5 topic, you certainly don’t have to add it to the topics of the week simply because it was turned down by FIFA’ members. On the other hand, it would be interesting to know how people would feel about something like that taking hold in the European game if FIFA were to get their heads out of their collective asses.
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Ronaldo has a very strong bond to Fergie I agree, but nothing and I mean nothing possesses the power to corrupt or seduce like that of a beautiful woman. I speak from experience here. Ronaldo is young and I’m sure he respects and even loves Fergy for what the Gaffer has done for him. But this has little strength versus the charms and seductive qualities of a really quality wench. I loved my parents greatly and they did not want me to leave for Toronto, but the hormones in my body took over and I threw my love for my parents away for a woman. If United wins the final, it will leave little else for Ronaldo to accomplish as a Man Utd player. Perhaps he will stay as long as Fergie does, but I personally feel that what Ronaldo’s girlfriend has to say about this, will be the final word.
Quaresma is woefully inconsistent and he really disappears in big matches against quality opponents. Also, you are the one claiming that we need to move towards more home grown talent. I on the other hand say we should go after talent from regions of the world that don’t owe their allegiance and loyalty to Italy or Spain. Arshavin is every bit as good as Quaresma and he has proven in this year’s UEFA Cup that he is a big game player. Also, we need to radically change the way we play if Ronaldo leaves. His free role will no longer be the catalyst by which we operate by. A more traditional 4-4-2 may be what is needed, which then means it’s time to go out and get a crosser of the ball like Bentley and an old school striker like Huntelaar. Start to deemphasize the Latin and Italian approach to the game that we have adopted. Nani and Anderson will never be Ronaldo so this is a must. This might mean a year or two of hard times but i think we will rebound and I also think it may cause Fergie to stick around a little longer to make sure the job is done right and is finished. This could be a good omen if it means Fergie hangs around longer. I’ll take Fergie over Ronaldo any day of the week.
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Well what can I say…It doesn’t suprise me really.I recognise Ronaldo’s talents and I’m in awe of them,but deep down in my heart,I’ve never liked him.He seems the type of player that although confesses love for United,is a back-stabber,he’ll go to Madrid and will fail there,mark my words.It’s the only player that I don’t have printed in my shirts because of this.Shame on him.Go and rot in Madrid,in a club where only merchandizing is top priority!!
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Padro; Take it easy friend. I think you are being a little harsh with the lad. Lets wait and see how this plays out before we condemn him to Hades. He may very well not only stay with us but sign a long term contract again. Personally I seriously doubt it but I’d like to stay optimistic. Dumping the girlfriend would be a great start.
Also; I am getting tired of Manchester United becoming Real Madrid’s farm system. Unlike the way we use Sporting Lisbon as our farm system, the Spanish pricks seem to be robbing us of our most prized possessions. In the case of Beckham, Heinze and RVN it was after their best years were past them. But this time it’s grabbing Ronaldo before he has reached his peak. United need to put their foot down and let Madrid know that this cannot and will not be tolerated.
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Because of the F’n Rangers Dickheads the Manchester Post CL Final parade is called off
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Grognard you old romantic! I had exactly the same thought. If this Spanish girl has her claws in Ronaldo he will leave a lot sooner for Spain. Thank god his girlfriend is only a bit part wannabe model, rather than a pop star
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Yeah Pedro, chill out! He has not left us yet, and he is our best player by a mile.
Grognard- I do not know how strong the love for a woman is because I am too young, but congrats to you for finding your beloved. I for myself think that it is too early to say how important the woman will be, because he has only known her for 2 months or so. Hopefully he/she makes the right choice, for Manchester United and for themselves. But why couldnt he just have stayed with Gemma Atkinson?
Even though I agree with most of what you say Grognard, I must disagree with you about Quaresma. He has performed well against big teams this season and he has played in almost the same level as Ronaldo. He is a better crosser then Ronaldo, he got 35 assists this season(!) and that proves how many chances he can create on his own. He is a showboater, maybe too much, but he can improve under the marvellous management that United have. To me, he looks like a combination af Becks and Ronaldinho. His passing is superiour to manu other wingers(Ronaldo, Cole and Messi) and he has more skills than Ronaldo. People might disagree about this but he has. I have seen him do tricks on the field that Ronaldo has never even done in training, I suppose. In him we would even get a player that can take free kicks from 25 yards or more. Owen doesnt seem to have so much power in his shots. He did alright in the CL, was the best player in Portugal this summer and has expressed his feelings about United and English football earlier(January 2007). He said he admired the way United played and he was a fan when he was young. He even rejected a move to Liverpool because of that! Which United fan wouldnt love to have a top class player that joined us after rejecting Liverpool?
I know I am talking about a player that has not been linked with United so often, but I would dream about having him as Ronaldos replacement when he leaves…
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RedDevil: Disagree with you (and hence agree with Grog) about Quaresma. While once upon a time, Quaresma looked like he would be a better bet than Ronaldo to become a world-beater, that title is now Ronaldo’s hands down. No question. Quaresma coulnd’t even hack in in Barcelona could he? While Ronaldo has lorded it over all for United in the PL and CL. I am of the opinion that Quaresma has reached his potential as a player, whereas Cristiano is still probably 2 or 3 years away from his peak (hopefully we can hang on to him until then!). So while Quaresma is a good player in his own right, ultimately he’s just a poor man’s Ronaldo in my opinion.
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Never really been a fan of Quaresma either, always been hit and miss and increadibly overateted. To be honest I think our replacement for Ronaldo is his same replacement he had at Sporting and thats Nani. He is learning off Ronaldo everyday and when Ronnie does go then hopefully Nani will be ready.
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IM getting a bit sick of all this nonsense about Ronaldo. NO ONE is bigger than the club and if he decides to go I personally wont shed a tear.
Yes hes been our best player this year and undoudtedly is a great player but I for one am very dissapointed that 5 days before the final of the Champions League he cant give a straight answer on wether he would be at the club next season.
SAF has indulged this guys ego more than anyone during his managerial term and I honestly believe that SAF should sit him down and explain everything he has got going for him at United which in footballing terms is potentially unlimited and then point out the danger of losing it all in a wrisky but appealing move to Madrid, and if Ronaldo cant look him in the eye and say I want to stay at this club then SAF should drop him from the squad immediately and sell him to Madrid for no less than 100 euros.
No matter if it harms our team or not there are principles at stake here and I for one dont want him at OT while he is pimping himself out to the ultimate no principled circus of Real Madrid. HE owes it to SAF, he owes to the supporters, he owes it to his fellow players to pin his colours fully to the mast so that we can see wether he truly loves our club or if he only loves himself.
I wont name any players but there are many at our club at present who are United to the core and many have been criticized on this site, by myself included but Ronaldo gets protected because of his performances, its a disgrace.
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If a deal is to go through, then it should be Robinho/Sergio Ramos + 100m
anything short of that and it falls through
WTF IS REAL MADRID’S PROBLEM
they need to start getting their own players instead of buying them from other top clubs
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After reading the multitude of comments, I can only say two things:
-If we sell Ronaldo to Real, Robinho has to be part of the deal
-English women are much, much, much better looking than Spanish women
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LOL ANDREI!
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Well said Fred The Red. No one is bigger than United, and SAF has proven it time and again in the past (Ince, Kanchelskis, Hughes, Stam, Beckham, Van Nistelrooy and many more).
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thats right james f, its not Ronaldo United ,its Manchester United and it was a brilliant club before he signed and will still be brilliant after he is gone and one thing im certain about, United might not be perfect but theyve got 100 times more class than Real Madrid, I would even go as far as to say that the Scousers have more class than Madrid.
These foriegn boys just dont understand the privelige it is to play for United
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Colver; My girl was a wannabe model/actress and she bloody well ruined my life. It’s the frakken dreamers with delusions of grandeur that one has to be afraid of. I think she has her claws deeply embedded in Ronny’s heart and I think we can kiss him goodbye. Women are evil but they often look nice, feel nice and smell nice. A triple threat that’s hard to resist. Besides the boy is hot blooded Portuguese.
RedDevil; Unfortunately my story was both happy and sad. I had a great adventure with the girl and she was the love of my life but after ten years together the itch to make it big in film was too strong and I lost her to the Boulevard of Broken Dreams in Hollywood. She ended up being a bust despite having some talent and a gorgeous face and ended up marrying an American so that she could stay there. Basically ruined my life and 12 years later I am still not over her. We did have ten great years though. All I can say to Ronaldo is she better be damn well worth it because he is throwing his career in to the scrap heap by wanting to go to Madrid for her benefit. When things don’t work out well with either the girl or with Real he will regret the happiness, respect and love he received from all Manchester United fans both in Manchester and around the world. I just pray it doesn’t come to this. I wouldn’t begrudge him a move in 3 to 5 years but not yet. He owes the best years of his career to United and Ferguson because he was the one who believed in him, nurtured him and made him into the player he is today. I doubt very much if he gets that kind of love from Bernd Schuster.
Regarding Quaresma, I am not opposed to him although he has a history of not showing up when it counts. Remember, the Portuguese league is not the CL or the BPL. In fact he would probably be a good signing because he failed at Barcelona and Real or other Spanish sides haven’t shown a great desire to get him either. Come to think of it, his name never comes with Italian sides either. Do they all know something we don’t? I wonder. Still, this lack of interest may make him more willing to come to United and stay for a while. Problem is as soon as he does well for us, Real and Barca will come knocking again. The Spanish are corporate sluts of the highest order. Anyway, you feel about Quaresma the way I do about Riquelme. The problem is that neither of them ever seem to be on Fegie’s want list. I for one would love to see Quaresma show up with Ronaldo still here. We need a play maker and consistent crosser of the ball. And if he is a lifelong fan of United, then that seems to me to be a no brainer.
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If you guys think Quaresma is overrated, what about Robinho? He must be one of the most overrated players in football history. One nice trick and suddenly he is a replacement for Ronny. No, Robinho is not the answer. Maybe another young british one…Eagles anyone?
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Fred the Red; Well said. I don’t agree with all of it but you make some valid points. Personally I feel Real should have to get into debt to buy him off us. I’d rather teach the boy and Real a lesson by sitting him down and not playing him for a year if he sulks and demands a transfer. The team has enough money in their kitty to buy a replacement like Arhavin, Quaresma etc and still buy a striker who can head the ball and I don’t think we will be hurt that much. But Ronaldo will feel the sting of his own treachery and Real will be taught a valuable lesson. That Manchester United cannot be treated like a cheap marketplace produce dealer. We cannot be bought and we will not have our team compromised. We knuckled under for Beckham and for RVN, but they were close to be finished anyway. We still have 3 or 4 years left with Ronaldo at his best. He can either learn to honor his contract or get a nice cushion for his aching butt as he sits and watches games as a sub or reserve. And I dare any United to challenge Fergie if he sits the lad down. Even if we are losing, there are more important things at stake here. Especially if it is going to be our team’s policy to continue buying Latin players. They need to know that the allure of greener pastures in Spain will not be an option if they sign for us. If they think we are just a stepping stone on their way to La Liga, then piss on all of them and go with Plan B. Players who are from Britain or who want to play in Britain and who come from less exotic countries where Spain and Italy is always thought of as their primary destination. I say we start stocking up on Krauts, Swedes, Danes, Poles, Czechs, Serbs, Croats, Russians an other cold weather players. Africans and Latinos are just too much of a risk. Suffice to say, United is far more important than Ronaldo and will survive if he leaves. But it still would be a tragedy and we may suffer a few seasons to find our form again. Also, Fergie will not be here forever. There are no guarantees of our continued dominance once he has left. The man is a genius and a legend.
And Andrei; I’m sorry mate but English woman don’t hold a candle to beautiful and exotic Spanish women or Italian women for that matter. Not even close. But then again everybody’s taste is different. I personally love the Mediterranean look. Beautiful tanned brunettes. WOW!
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They can keep Robinho. The pratt does nothing for me and he also has a bad attitude too.
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Robinho is a good player. He is better than quaresma or arshavin. However, he may be too lightweight for the premiership. It’s not really fair to slag off his step-overs. Lets face it, just about all of ronaldo’s tricks are useless. Meaningless showboating. Robinho’s tricks lead to him beating a man far more often than ronaldo.
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As long as ronaldo’s at the club we won’t buy quaresma.
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Whilst Robinho Struggled to settle for his first couple of seasons at Real, he has been great this season. With our style of play he would fit nicely. If we are talking of a replacement for Ronaldo we cant get one, its impossible. I think Ribery would do a good job but whatever happens dont replace with Quaresma – a real poor mans ronaldo and will constantly remind us with what we are missing!
I heard Eagles mentioned?! he will be at derby or somewhere next season……
Its funny the way everyone is talking, Ronaldo will be playing for us next year so lets start the replacement debate once he finally moves on.
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I too think Ronaldo will have no choice but to stay one more year. Fergie will not let him scoot this late in the season without the warning having come much earlier in order to allow him to prepare a plan of attack in the transfer season. Problem is will Ronaldo pout or will he play to his best? I for one think the boy is very proud and wants to impress the world so I have no doubt that whether he is happy or not, he will give his all. Having said that, I seriously doubt if United will have either Ronaldo or Fergie back in 2009/10.
Also, Robinho is a whining little crybaby brat and the last thing we need at United. Schuster has had his fill with him this season so he will definitely move on. Lets stop judging players just on ability. They need to fit in to our team like glove. Personality, character, attitude and an ability to learn and conform to Northern English life is essential. Robinho is just another cancer waiting to strike and then spread.
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I think we need to start planning for life after Ronaldo, in the same way we’ve been planning for life after Giggs and Scholes. I doubt he will leave this season, but couple of years time.
Grognard: you raise a good point about the Latin players. If we play our cards right we will have them playing for us for some of their prime, but once they hit mid career they will think about going to Spain.
A strength of United has always been continuity. We always have a core of players in our team. This makes team rebuilding easier and explains why we have been able to win so many titles. Players like Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Brown, Rio.
Of course these players are English, and the few youth prospects that do exist nowadays are ludicrously overpriced. So the real challenge for us will be building the next team, when Rio, Hargreaves, Brown, Carrick and Rooney are gone.
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Grognard, there are two points I would like to make regarding what weve been talking about,
no 1, I think you might have a point there about the latin players and although they have undoubted talent Im not yet convinced by thier temperaments. Maybe 1 or 2 in the team would be ok but at the rate we are going whenever some of our older players retire the core of our squad could be Portuguese and Brazilian.
The Scandinavian countries that you mentioned produce players with temperaments and abilities similar to England and they seem to feel perfectly at home there.
The eastern European countries produce not only players with decent temperaments but also players with excellent technical ability so maybe recruiting people from these countries would be less of a gamble coz I can think of two players of the top my head that come from there that might be available soon that would enhance our squad, Arshavin and Berbatov.
I also think the boy Ashley Young at Villa looks a real prospect and the fact that young English players are less likely to have their heads turned by foriegn suitors makes the extra few million that has to be paid for English talent well worth paying.
no 2, although losing Ronaldo would knock us back, I honestly dont think it would hurt us as much as people are saying. How many times has a team lost a pivitol player that people said would spell doom and gloom only for members of the team to step up and out of that players shadow and they learn to play and be successful even without that certain player.
Apart from Ronaldo United have some top notch talent and born winners and I honestly believe with some shrewd signings in certain areas combined with the players we already have the loss of Ronaldo could have a galvanising effect rather than a destructive one.
Hopefully he stays for another 2 or 3 years and my words were just a knee jerk reation to a careless turn of phrase by Ronaldo, but if he doesnt stay then I believe it will be buisness as usual at OT just like it was when Robson, Ince, Kanchelskis, Hughes, Cantona, Stam, Beckham and Ruud all left the club.
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Fred; Adjusting to life without Ronaldo won’t be as easy as you claim. Not only would we be losing the best player in the world but a player that our whole offensive schme is organized through. To much dependence is put on Ronaldo to find space in his free role and to then score goals. Rooney and Tevez are really nothing more than foils and decoys tot hat effect. They can score goals but together they never scored as many goals as Ronaldo. How do you recover 41 goals lost in all competitions and 31 in in the EPL? Even if Rooney and Tevez were to improve their tally dramitically we would still be 15 to 20 goals shy of what Ronny scored. His replacement may score a few goals but lets face it, ronaldo is one in a billion and there are no other goal scoring wingers out there.
The only way to make up the goals is to get two key players that will go a long way in helping us forget. First a play maker and expert crosser of the ball. Secondly that goal scoring poacher that will score over 20 league goals and over 30 goals in total. So which players can do this. Well good crossers out there exist. Bentley, Quaresma, Arshavin, Ribery, etc. And goal scorers out there who can also head the ball are Huntelaar, Gomez, Berbatov. So the ball is in Fergies court and he has to decide what happens next. Or is it Ronalso who decides for him? Either way, we certainly do have to get prepared for life with Ronaldo.
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Grog, do you not think Fergie would be able to straighten out Robinho? The lad has skill and if he can be controlled by the manager, I think he would be a success.
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[Grognard]
All said and done I think Ronaldo will stay another season. It’s upto Fergie to decide how to replace him from now on.
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Relax people, Ronaldo is not going nowhere. he has a family in Anderson and Nani with ferguson as their father and quieroz as their fav uncle. Trust me, ferguson is very smart with the issue of Ronaldo. He signed both Anderson and Nani and Ronaldo was handed their responsibility. He knows he is at a big club but he will realise soon enough that he is at the biggest club in the world ever. He is not going anywhere. While all this talk is going on, imagine who manu is about to sign. I wont give it away, but we are about to sign a player that is a dream to our team. Stay tuned
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Ola; I admire your optimism but you are missing the point. What drives Ronaldo is far stronger than any father figure, brother or uncles could ever compete with. It’s the love of a woman. I’m convinced that this evil wench is at the heart of this matter. And if she plays her role well, Ronaldo will be putty in her hands. The only chance we have is to keep him one more year and hope for a breakup between the two young lovers. Real has very little to do with this I’m sure.
Kurt; Ask yourself this question. Why would Fergie in his advancing age want to waste his time working on an attitude project like Robinho? Wouldn’t he best be served by signing a player that doesn’t have so much baggage and who really wants to be a Man Utd player? Fergie has never gone out of his way to buy projects from other countries. Cantona was a project but he had already played at Leeds Utd. Also, 15 years ago is a long time and I don’t think Fergie wants to bother with a malcontent at this late stage in his managerial career.
Robinho is talented but he has a bad attitude, he’s selfish and he has a ten cent head. Come to think of it, that was the exact description I gave for Nani a couple of days ago. So Fergie already has his hands full trying to bring up Anderson and Nani as well as the twins.
RR; I agree. I think he is obligated to stay one more year and give Fergie time to find a proper replacement or replacements. Another reason why I am certain that the girlfriend is behind this is the fact that it wasn’t that long ago that Ronaldo signed a contract until 2012. Why would he do that if he wanted to leave for the allure of Real Madrid. At that time the girlfriend was not in the picture. He was having his fun with escorts. Has United done anything to sour his feelings about the club? Of course not. They are champions again and are one game away from the CL championship as well. All is well, he has more teammates who speak his native land, he has a manager who loves him and gives him a lot of freedom on and off the pitch and he is the king of Manchester and he is rolling in clover. Now ask yourself, who could have the incredible power and seductive talents to unsettle a lad in that kind of Utopia? Real Madrid? I don’t think so. Trust me, it’s the wench.
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Guys, if Ronaldo wants to go let him go! He should not hold us at ransom year in year out. We have to believe in our team and our wonderful manager – SAF. So long as we shall be having Tevez, Rooney, Nani, Anderson, Carrick and Owen Hargreaves, then our team will remain strong enough to dominate England next season. Of course we have to buy a replacement for Ronnie but trust SAF to do this this summer. RR, you seem desperate to hold onto Ronaldo but if his heart is not in OT any more (no wonder he has not been celebrating his goals enthusiastically in the recent past) he will be of little use for us next season. Probably Nani will become an equally good player next season because he can learn fast from his fellow countryman. When Beckham went people panicked but little did they know that Ronaldo would be even a better player. So bye bye Ronaldo! BYE BYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Saha believes he will be sold after CL Final
Silvestre hints at Bordeaux switch
Tevez would love a permanent contract but has Spanish ambitions
United will move for £10m rated Ramsey
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Robinho is more of a striker than a winger. And looking at his ability I dont think he is that great. He is a very good dribbler, but a woeful crosser! For Brazil he plays CF and not a winger, and for Real he never gets to crosses he just passes the ball. A little like Messi, who doesnt cross so much either. Ronaldo has skills, can finish and is a good crosser. If we sell him, United will have to find other ways to attack. Our attacking system at the moment is based on Ronaldo(Agree with Grogs). If he leaves we will need a player that has speed on the wing, but can cross the ball well also. And we need a striker that can head the ball. That means that we have to change the whole attacking play! Maybe that can be a good thing, but I am happy how things are a the moment. If we let Ronaldo join REAL SHIT then Ashley Young or Quaresma are my favorites. Both have great skill and are great crossers. And then we have to focus on a stiker that is a good header and finisher. Huntelaar or Mario Gomez then.
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@ola
mate, dont say,’wait! someone big is coming’ thats playing safe till someone big actually has come in..if you know something, spill the beans…nothings official till there are quotes from players, agents, coaches…but a little transfer rumour is always good….
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In other news: Saha thinks he will play his last Man United game against Chelsea on Wednesday. I would be surprised if he even will play that game! http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3575912,00.html
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Grog: From what I understand Robinho has been offered a new contract due to his improvements both on and off the pitch over the last year or so. (since Ronaldo left and stopped being such a bad influence!)
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i honestly dont think he is leaving…
and about ronaldo not having an impact when he is gone…. i dont know about that… in ronaldo we have a consistant terrorizer of the EPL…
fine that he doesnt do well against big name teams… but that is what? 3 in chelsea, aresenal and liverpool… so we lose or draw at most 6 games in a season…
all other games he performs brilliantly and is a match winner… he isnt Manchester United, for sure, but he is a vital part of the team, one that if compared to a car, is the flashy wheels that spin hella fast and get the car going where it needs to be
he wont leave this season… i doubt he will with all my heart and rational mind… but if he does… i will worry about who to buy then…
all the prospects sound great… but ronaldo, they arent…
i also am waiting to hear more transfer rumours… so bored now
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I just woke up and have to share my wonderful nightmare. Manchester United had won the Champions League final by a 1-0 score. That was the wonderful part. The nightmare part is that Louis Saha scored the big goal late in the game. Why is that a bit of a nightmare in my mind? Most of you know my feelings on Louis Saha. I’d hate to be indebted with gratitude to the Balsa Boy. YUK!
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Grognard; It’s fair to say you don’t like Saha and he is frustrating, but you just basically said you would be annoyed if Saha scored the winner for us. That’s senseless and illogical, and is very likely to happen with Saha’s recent record against Chelsea. That is, if he makes it past the warm up session
.
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We already are indebted to the Balsa Boy, as without him, we wouldn’t have had the blistering start to the season we had last year, Ruud would still be here and we would be stuck in transition like we were for a few years.
He scored the opening goal of the season, to start off our good run, scored the winner in the Benfica and Celtic matches to keep our run going, scored the winner against Chelsea, scored the opening goal against Portsmouth, the winner against Blackburn and the opener against Everton. It’s hard to deny that if we did not have Saha last season, we probably would not have won the league last season.
These facts also show that he was a main reason behind why we killed teams off so quickly last season, something we have failed to do this season. He also gave Carrick, Scholes and Giggs a target to aim at, giving them a better platform to play their game.
This season, he scored 5 goals in 5 starts, proven quality. He scored the equaliser against Sunderland(and 2 goals against them away) and the final goal in the win over Chelsea. Without these goals, Chelsea would have had hope that they could have won the league, and they would have been on top at one stage, giving them a psychological advantage.
Whether you like him or not, he’s proven he is a brilliant player no matter how much money was ‘wasted’ on him.
He uses his agility to turn players brilliantly, better than anyone I have seen and I mean that genuinely, he holds the ball up in our team better than anyone, and he has done what was asked of him when he was on the pitch.
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I think some people are blowing this up into more than it really is. If you look at his sky interview he actually gives as clear an intention of staying at the club long term than he ever has. He has never hidden his dream of playing in spain one day yet he says in the sky interview that sometimes dreams arent realistic.
Now with the spanish interview if you read the article from one of the uk newspapers that was posted in the comments on the post before this one it states that the station was granted a 10 minute interview and wasted 5 minutes of this grilling him on him leaving in the summer to join Real. That gives me the idea the statement was forced out of him and was probably along the lines of his comment to sky and comments in the past where he has said that footballs unpredictable and you cant predict what will happen in the future which is true and its better he honest rather than some footballers who express their love for a club and then turn around and quit at the first sign of money.
If he gave a time frame and its not just spain making it up it may be that a) he knows like everyone does Real will put a bid in and theres always a chance the club will accept and/or b) the rumours over the last couple of months of him getting another new contract are true and the talks are due to start next week and he knows that. Either would mean a deicsion on his future will be made by all parties after the final and doesnt mean hes leaving
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There is an awful lot of conjecture about Ronaldo’s future being paraded as fact here. There is any number of reasons for his comments. He may have been pandering to the Spanish press or his answer may have been taken out of context. He may think after scoring 41 goals this might be a good time to do a bit of sabre rattling in the build up to contract negotiations. He might have decided if he wins the CL there is nothing more to achieve in England and wants a new challenge. He might be annoyed that he was snubbed for WPOTY last year and feels he needs to move from England to fulfil his aim as number one player of the world. It might be idle flirting with Madrid, he could be fed up with the weather, or yes it could be the girlfriend. But we have no clue what the reasoning behind these comments was and anything we say is merely idle speculation at this point.
IMO one thing we have to get used to is the fact he won’t finish his career here. So some day, sooner or later, he will go. Lets just pray it is a few years down the road and feel privileged that we were able to witness the worlds best player in the shirt for at least one season.
As for Madrid’s ‘seductive’ talent, I think it is worth nothing that this club did pull off the transfers of Figo and Zidane not that may years ago. We mightn’t like to admit it but for most players ‘the club’ to be at is not infact Manchester United but is actually Real Madrid
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I have read all the comments now. And I must say that I am shocked and dissapointed! Many of you are saying that we would be better of without Ronaldo, that he is a selfish bastard and that he only cares about himself. And what is that about him not celebrating with others? He was the first one to jump at Giggs when he scored against Wigan, Third to reach Scholes against Barca and against Arse he was just as joyful as everyone when Owen scored. He will stay here next season, so why are you saying these things. He is the worlds best player in the world, he gives everything in every match and loves United. Yeah, I know he is a cry-baby when he doesnt get obvious free kicks or penalties, but he is young and gets easily frustrated. Tell me a footballer that doesnt get easily frustrated when he is 23 years old? Its an absolute disgrace! We all love Ronny and if we continue to do that RONALDO WILL STAY!
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I think Ronaldo should not go.When Cristi could not play football like he is playing now the club use to negotiate the offer of Ronaldo and when he can play every club want him.The same is with Ronaldinho.I think Ronaldo should not leave the club should not leave Manchester United.If u agree with me then please reply this to Alex Fregerson the manager. Please……
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What goes around comes around – remember Man U’s pursuit of Hargreaves? And speaking of “loyalty” of British players, one can recall Rooney’s so-called loyalty to his “boyhood club” Everton…
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[Abhishek]
Hargreaves was adamant to leave Bayern, unlike Ronaldo who would like to play in Spain sometime in the future and we all know he will move someday — we just don’t like the timing of his comments prior to the CL. There is no particular club that Ron would want to go, he could go to Barca or Real. It’s the weather primarily.
Regarding loyalty, when you move to a big English club there is very little high profile transfer of players within the Big Four unless either club is getting something in return. The last case was Ashley Cole but even then, Arsenal got Gallas in return. You won’t have English players desired by clubs like Madrid. Over the past decade only Steve McManaman and David Beckham plied their trade abroad. So the chances of English players moving abroad is minimal.
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