Man Utd Accept £80million Offer for Cristiano Ronaldo (that was probably arranged last summer)

By: Daryl | June 11th, 2009

You’ve surely already heard by now, but Cristiano Ronaldo is officially talking to Real Madrid today after Man Utd accepted an £80m bid. Here’s the rather terse statement from the official Man Utd website:

Manchester United have received a world-record, unconditional offer of £80million for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.

At the request of Cristiano – who has again expressed his desire to leave – and after discussion with the player’s representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player.

Matters are expected to be concluded by 30 June. The club will not comment until further notice

So it’s not a done deal just yet, but it’s a deal on the way to being done.

Some initial reactions:

- At £80million (or just under €94m, if you prefer) Ronaldo would be the undisputed most expensive player in the world

- You can buy an awful lot of crazy stuff with £80million.

- The top three most expensive transfer fees in the world will all have been paid out by Real Madrid (Ronaldo, Zidane, Kaka)

- Kaka’s spell in the headlines didn’t last very long. But my guess is that he’s probably quite happy for C-Ron to steal some of the limelight (and pressure)

- If you’re a Real Madrid fan buying a new jersey, who’s name do you get on the back? Maybe you’ll have to buy two?

- The Galactico 2.0 era has begun.

- Seems the rumours about this all being arranged some time ago were correct. Which is all a bit odd.

- But at least we can be grateful that things are getting done early this summer.

- With that Barcelona team and this new-look Madrid team, La Liga is now officially the one to watch in 2009/10.

- According to The Guardian, C-Ron “will earn a salary of around €8m net (£6.8m), which when Spain’s non-domicile tax rate of 25% is factored in is close to €211,000 (£180,000) a week before add ons.” Remember when £40,000 per week seemed like a lot?

- C-Ron + Spain = super-tan?

- Man Utd will have a tough time replacing the lad.

- Rafa Benitez, Carlo Ancelotti and Arsene Wenger are all meeting up to celebrate later today.

- Every English Premier League fan who spent the last few years complaining about Cronaldo is secretly going to miss him.

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Category: World Football

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eden

believe me offering cristino ronald to another team man utd will go down & will be like never known
vic

I love madrid's signings...but what about some defenders? lahm anyone? albiol? xabi alonso? we really need help with the defense cause it sucks!
Madridista

I'm getting me Higuain's name, or maybe Lass or Ramos or (well I have a few other favourites but I haven't the faintest idea if Robben or Miguel Torres or Metzelder are staying, or if de la Red will play again) on the back. Whatever the transfer fee, these two guys still have to prove themselves.

If in two seasons I like what I see on the pitch, I might get a Kaka shirt (two minds about CR...9, I guess). Not bloody well until.
Miguel

A ridiculous amount of money for a single player. But Real isn't just buying a highly skilled soccer athlete. The Galactico 1.0 era was a lucrative one for Real and CR's market value is far greater then can be measured by his skills on the pitch. Some go one about his arrogance and ego but ask the coaches that have worked with him (Ferguson, Queiroz, Scolari, ...) and all will agree he is a highly dedicated professional.
sscouser

A common sentiment of the typical sports fan is that athletes are overpaid. That is to say, athletes are paid more than their relative “worth”— as opposed to teachers, lawyers, doctors, etc. Now the question is: Who is supposed to ascribe worth, owners of the teams or the fans? True, higher fan attendance means higher revenue which means more worth, but fans are not the people who write the checks. This responsibility falls on the owners of these professional teams/clubs.

Clubs create significant revenue from the fans that pay to see these highly skilled athletes. Naturally, an athlete’s worth should not be examined based on intrinsic value, but rather monetary value. Whatever the case may be, most economists agree that the common man’s animosity towards athletes’ salaries most likely stems from jealousy and envy rather than economic theory.
http://malawi.worldcupblog.org...
williamhill

and apparently villa coming as well. crazy money.
Applesauce

Give it a few years. Once Real Madrid is found cooking the books trying to make up for this mess, the transfer numbers will come back down a bit.
JC

n I wonder how much Messi would cost?
JC

I guess Madrid are going to follow the As long as we score more than we concede!!
MAD

I am waiting for the "EPL exodus" and "The EPL is going downhill" articles that came out for Serie A when Kaka went to Madrid.

I think many people here are missing the point of the Galacticos. The first Galacticos were an extremely successful money making endeavor. They a won a title here and there, but that wasn't really the point of the whole thing.

All those stars together would go on these incredibly lucrative tours during the summer, Madrid made a killing in television/cable/satellite deals and the merchandising was through the roof.

The beauty part of it was that there was almost no advertising overhead since the EPL and Serie A had already marketed the hell out of their stars.

The titles were a by - product and were always meant to be.

Where is the money coming from? The banks of course. They saw how successful the first version was and are willing to bankroll another, because... what in this depression is a better risk than a certain money making football spectacular.
Dhaw

20million more and Real Madrid could have purchased NEWCASTLE UNITED.

Shessh
Corey

http://real.theoffside.com/tea...
Safari

It was hard being a Real Madrid fan for the past 2 years.... Time to upgrade my TV package..
Gaston

this is fucking ridiculous no players are worth this much. lets if platini or blatter will say anything, knowing them, they won't say anything. man u gets the better deal of this
Dave

What happened to £25 mil being an exorbitant amount reserved for the top players? When did every above average footballer become worth at least £40 million?
Dave

This is insane...spending that kind of money on two players is logically and economically ridiculous. Real Madrid is inflating the market to a frightening degree, as well as ruining all of Chelsea's plans!
Juliet

At last, we can hear about something else. I just hope it's not more of Ribery to ______.
Sam

Meh, Barca will still win the title. Football is dying.
Ibracadabra

Wishing FSC had La Liga now as Serie A and EPL are losing two massive studs... but before summer is out, I'm sure there will be some new faces at United and Chelsea - to keep fans focused on the world's most popular league. exciting stuff, this.
MattyDub

Heheheh, love the second to last point...
Musab

Now I'm torn as to which jersey I'll buy, Kaka's or Ronaldo's?

One thing certain, I know which league I'm watching next year.