So in the end everyone has their price and in Man U's case it was $131m to send Cristiano Ronaldo to the Bernabeu.
Real Madrid don't take no for an answer and like a besotted lover, waited forever outside the Glazers' door at Old Trafford despite an official complaint to FIFA, regular rebuffs and ardent denials, Sir Alex Ferguson's "I wouldn't sell them a virus" being the most memorable of them.
At long last, Real's ever-enlarging carrot was too juicy for a once profitable English club now owing $1.15 billion, according to accounts released this month. This does not mean United had to sell Ronaldo to avoid meltdown; Real have made running a soccer club at a colossal debt an art form for years. Fergie was party to this too, opting to cash in after six years of hay for a player who doesn't want to play for him anymore and who was at the peak of his transfer value.
I never thought Ronaldo looked settled in England. He just seemed too Latin for Lancashire. For every sexy flick or feint, every wondrous dribble or jaw-dropping free kick, his defiantly petulant reactions to referees, or to being fouled or substituted, were always from a different culture and you always felt he wasn't going to see out his days in drizzly Manchester like Ryan Giggs. Fans recall his gamesmanship and tantrums as well as his flashes of brilliance; his EPL obituary remains one of sun and shadow.
Boys from the Iberian Peninsula, or the islands off it, dream of playing for Real or Barca, something the craggy Scot at Old Trafford would not accept, until now. A loss to the EPL, but in this digital age, it is not like England's soccer followers can never see Ronaldo again.
But a bigger loss for Man U, despite bagging $39m more than Milan got for Kaka: the English Champions have just sold the Ballon d'Or winner, FIFA World Player of the Year and a guy who scored 42 goals for them two seasons ago, from midfield!
Without an obvious marquee replacement, the Red Devils are in need of overhaul, while Real have a new crop of Galacticos to drool over.
-Sean O'Conor
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3 comments:
with chelsea's david villa bid rejected looks like they might bag him too. and rumors are they're after ribery, who (man u was/is chasing) said he doesn't want to goto england (hello real and barca). NOW if they could only manage a defender for the porous d that barca and liverpool WRECKED this year, unless they just plan on outscoring everyone... which MIGHT be plausible
hearing more and more rumors that fulham are on the verge of stealing Onyewu from Birmingham. Have you heard anything greg?
I'm something slips out and I stay quiet about it, it usually means I've already got that bit of info and am trying to go for more. :D
See the newest post, Micah.
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