With Real Madrid stepping up their interest in Gareth Bale and media reports coming at us hot and heavy about a world record transfer fee, there has been work going on behind the scenes in Manchester for another blockbuster deal, David Moyes has been in contact with Madrid in relation to the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo for £80 million.
Many people have claimed that a move back to Manchester at some stage of his career was inevitable and it appears United, for the last 12 days, have been hammering out terms to make it happen.
It would make perfect sense as it was July 17th (almost exactly 12 days) when news broke that Ed Woodward, United’s Chief Executive, had returned
from their tour of Asia with transfer business to attend to. Nothing since has happened regarding Cesc, Modric or any of The Red Devils’ supposed transfer targets so maybe it was Ronaldo he was flying home to discuss.
The nuts and bolts of it are this: Ronaldo has two years to run on his contract and has not committed his future to “Los Blancos”. If he were to go another summer without signing a new deal, it would mean Ronaldo, in the final year of his contract, would hold all the aces. At that point, there is a huge possibility of Real having to settle for a fraction of the price (£80million) being discussed now and the Portugese man’s real worth.
As I wrote earlier in the week, the transfer window is like a set of dominoes. I am not sure of what order the dominoes now lie and whether the Bale story is causing the Ronaldo deal or Real Madrid are trying to buy Bale as a way of appeasing fans who are set to lose Ronaldo. Wayne Rooney is certainly the domino that lies just behind both of them and his transfer to Chelsea has been seemingly held up because of all this.
For all United fans who seem to take every transfer report as Gospel?
I would hold off on getting Ronaldo printed on the back of my new jersey but there are certainly signs that this may be true. A pinch of salt is necessary, indeed, but if it’s true….what a move it would be!!??
This United article is from new TSB contributor Robbie Dunne. Follow Robbie Dunne on Twitter