Real Say Sorry - Sort Of

May 28, 2008

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Real’s thinly-veiled campaign to prise away the jewel in United’s crown continues, with club president Ramon Calderon offering a half-hearted - an patently disingenuous - denial of United’s accusation they are tapping up Cristiano Ronaldo.

The latest twist in a battle that is turning out to be not so much about the player himself, but rather United’s desire to finally stand up to the overweening arrogance of Real, saw Calderon use the club’s website rather than their usual mouthpiece - the newspaper Marca - to try to influence events.

The ‘notice’ in Spanish can be read here on Real’ site.

Clearly mindful of the severity of United’s threat to report Real to FIFA and the likely consequences, Calderon trotted out a text-book denial:

“We haven’t done, nor will we do anything against the wishes of a club that we consider a friend like Manchester United.”

It’s news to us that United consider Real a friend ; we were more of the opinion that United have long considered Real a cash-cow for their unwanted stars - e.g Beckham, van Nistelrooy and (YSB) Heinze.

Calderon continued:

“Our relationship with Manchester is magnificent and we will not do anything that would violate the will of a team, just as we would not like that done to us

All well and good - debatable but unremarkable - until we reach the concluding sentence which cleverly tries to consolidate Real’s gameplan by implying the issue lies with Cristiano Ronaldo and United:

“We know Manchester doesn’t want to sell and we have nothing to say. It’s a problem between the player and his team.”

We beg to differ Ramon - it’s a problem with a club who have no manners, no style and an arrogance which makes United - often criticised in England for their arrogance - appear humble and understated.

Ronaldo for his part has often repeated his desire to play in Spain one day. It seems everyone at United - the fans, the owners and Fergie - all concede this will happen at some point.

What none of them had seriously anticipated was that the ’some point’ would come this summer.

In a sense, we must grudgingly acknowledge that there is a grain of truth in Calderon’s observation that the issue lies with Ronaldo - if not Ronaldo and the club.

It is clear the club want him to remain (for as long as possible.) It’s now incumbent on the club to have Ronaldo put an end to the ambiguity he has contributed to proceedings - he must say unequivocally that he wants to remain and United and will stay for at least the remainder of his contract.

Ronaldo should also seriously ask himself whether the move to Madrid really makes sense.

Would he be joining a league that is better than the one he currently stars in? The way the power has shifted to the Premier League in the past five year makes it the number one destination for the world’s best footballers.

If he joined Madrid would he be part of a club that has the true global appeal of United?

Take away their local government handouts and Real are no match for United’s marketing power - no matter how financially indebted they currently are.

In fact, the single biggest reason Madrid want to recruit Ronaldo to their ranks doesn’t concern his extraordinary footballing power.

It concerns his marketability and the power he would have to drag Madrid out of the post-Beckham doldrums.

Whereas United’s appeal continues decade after decade regardless of any specific players, Real’s global reach is very much predicated on securing the signature of the current big thing or the next big thing.

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