Cristiano Ronaldo has expressed his delight after Real Madrid agreed a world record deal of £80million with Manchester United for his services.
United accepted the offer for the Portugal international, who is currently on holiday in the United States, on Thursday.
“This is very flattering for me,” Ronaldo said last night. “The fact that two of the world’s greatest teams want to trade me is not something that happens every day.”
The World and European Player of the Year also confirmed that a doctor from Madrid had examined the groin injury that has been troubling him.
“Every one wants to see and test your product or future product,” he explained. “It does not require an operation.”
Madrid expect Ronaldo to arrive in Spain “in the next few days” and the deal will be concluded as soon as he has passed his medical examination. His salary was agreed almost a year ago, when Madrid put the deal in place. Ronaldo will earn a flat wage of £6.8m a year plus substantial add-ons and image-rights payments.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson persuaded him to stay at Old Trafford for another year but Ronaldo made it clear that it would be his final season with the club.
His agent, Jorge Mendes, worked out a deal with all the relevant people as long ago as last September, writing in various pledges and confidentiality clauses.
“Let’s just say that everyone involved in the operation agreed to do it this season,” Ramón Calderón, Madrid’s president at that time, said last night. “That is what I can say. Last season United decided not to do it because they thought it was too early and instead everyone agreed to do it this season. He [Ronaldo] wanted to come, he said that many times. It’s OK for Real Madrid and also for Manchester United, who will get a lot of money.”
United’s official stance was that Ronaldo would not be allowed to leave, something the club’s chief executive, David Gill, repeated as recently as two weeks ago.
Instead, the deal was tied up in a 15-minute telephone call on Wednesday, when Madrid’s new president, Florentino Pérez, contacted Gill to tell him the money was in place.
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