Snak

Men Everton vil, så vidt jeg kan læse mig frem til, have omkring 16mio £ for Baines – de penge skal kunne bruges bedre.

Helt enig - selv de £12m ville være på grænsen.

Say what? Han er helvedes pasningsstærk. Netop evnerne her gør (sammen med overblikken og den sublime teknik) at han er den mest oplagte arvtager for Xavi.

Mon ikke bare det er sure rønnebær over, at han tilsyneladende er på vej væk.

Oliver Kay fra The Times har skrevet om, hvorfor Ronaldo ikke kommer. Den er bag betalingsmur nu, men her er den fulde ordlyd.


A well-placed figure at Manchester United, not usually inclined to flights of fancy, suggests that we shouldn’t rule it out. A leading agent, with fingers in many pies across European football, calls it a possibility. Those who are close to Cristiano Ronaldo continue to encourage the notion. So why is that, to this cynic at least, the prospect of Ronaldo wearing a Manchester United shirt next season still seems so implausible?

By now, it is well established that United have been looking into the possibility of re-signing the Portuguese. Looking into it quite extensively, in fact. And there have been some reasonably encouraging indications that the player, feeling unloved and underappreciated at Real Madrid, is open to the idea of returning to Old Trafford.

But even those who talk up the possibility acknowledge that it is an extremely long shot. This is not like José Mourinho’s return to Chelsea, for which the catalyst – quite apart from the “love” he spoke of – was rejections that both parties suffered, arousing a sense of unfinished business. With Ronaldo and United, that perfect storm does not exist.

Ronaldo’s sense of disenchantment in Madrid, which he first discussed last September, stemmed from his feeling that Real’s reluctance to negotiate on an improvement to his existing contract, worth £10 million a year, was symptomatic of a lack of respect – certainly in comparison to the reverence in which Lionel Messi, his great rival, is held by Barcelona.

Changes to the Spanish tax laws, as well as the soaring cost of attracting and retaining world-class footballers, mean that Real will have to offer Ronaldo a significant increase on that deal if he is to stay. An offer is in the pipeline, as Florentino Perez, the club’s president, has made clear, but with Ronaldo in such a strong negotiating position, as he enters the final two years of his contract, it remains to be seen whether Real will be able to meet the demands of his agent, Jorge Mendes. And so the possibility of a move grows.

But a return to the Premier League has to be regarded as improbable. There are various means by which United might feel that they could match and even surpass Ronaldo’s current wage in Madrid, perhaps with a little help from Nike, but, even if they were to go as high as £300,000 a week, so would Real. And the Spanish club would not have to pay a transfer fee.

Even if any calculations are based on conservative figures – a £50-million transfer fee and £300,000 a week in wages over a four-year contract – the total deal would cost United £112 million with little or no resale value. Even that would dwarf the overall £74 million investment (wages plus transfer fee) when United pushed the boat out to sign Robin van Persie last summer. And with Ronaldo, the figures would, in reality, be far higher. Despite the Premier League’s enormous new broadcast deal and despite United’s ability to announce lucrative commercial deals on what seems like a daily basis, the chances of seeing Ronaldo wearing a red shirt at Old Trafford next season are extremely remote.

It is a nice fall-back option for Ronaldo and Mendes to have and it is one that they are likely to try to encourage as they look to remind Real of the danger of losing their most prized asset. Certainly, as the contract ticks down, the threat of losing Ronaldo on a free transfer in the summer of 2015 will grow – as will Real’s desperation.

But another inconvenient, unspoken truth is that Ronaldo had six years at Old Trafford and spent much of that time, even when he was happiest in a professional sense, longing for a move to Spain. Between 2006 and 2009, it felt as if barely a week went by without him talking of his “dream” of playing for Madrid. Even in the build-up and aftermath of Champions League finals in 2008 and 2009, it seemed that this “dream” consumed him.

Has that dream lived up to the reality? It did not seem that way last season, when, despite scoring 55 goals in 55 games, that “sad” demeanour was often retained as Real’s season unravelled against a backdrop of tension not just with the club’s hierarchy but between players – not least himself by the final months – and José Mourinho.

But last season’s woes and the lack of a Champions League triumph apart, Ronaldo has seldom given the impression that the grass was, after all, greener in Manchester than in Madrid. Ronaldo is no longer the reigning World Player of the Year, as he was when he left United four years ago, but even Sir Alex Ferguson has acknowledged that the Portugal forward has become a better player in Spain. The only problem – and it is known to be more than a minor irritation to Ronaldo – is others’ perception that anything he can do, Lionel Messi can do better.

As for life off the pitch, a former team-mate once said that Ronaldo “hates living in Manchester, but loves United”. Maybe absence from United, as well as disillusionment at Real, has made the heart grow stronger in terms of the personal relationships – although Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure might well have lessened some of those pangs – but, despite having reportedly put his Spanish villa up for sale recently, there has not been too much evidence to suggest that he would rush back to the lonely existence he led under grey skies in Alderley Edge.

A prediction: the United links will strengthen over the coming weeks as Ronaldo (or at least Mendes), frustrated by the impasse with Real, holds talks with his former club; he will talk openly about the possibility of a return, perhaps even, with Mendes’s encouragement, following Mourinho’s “I am loved, especially by one club” line; there will be briefings and counter-briefings in the Spanish press; Paris St Germain will make a firm bid to take him now; United will contemplate matching it; Real will reject the bids and gamble on allowing the stalemate to drag into next season and perhaps beyond; ultimately Ronaldo will either re-sign for Real or, slightly less probable, follow the gravy train to PSG.

United? The heart might say yes, but the head – once United have looked at the sums and Ronaldo has logged on to weather.com – will almost certainly say no.

"Mon ikke bare det er sure rønnebær over, at han tilsyneladende er på vej væk. "

Det må være sådan noget vi er ude i. Det er i hvert flad helt skørt.

@Alsen:
Jeg tror heller ikke på han kommer til United i år.
Men de to scenarier han ridser op til sidst burde blive suppleret med et lige så sandsynligt scenarie - at han undlader at forlænge, men fortsætter i Real til mindst næste sommer.

Det virker ikke som om han er helt tilfreds i Real lige nu (og det der med græsset er altid grønnere på den anden side tror jeg han vil have med sig altid - eller også er det noget han skal arbejde på). Men hvis han, som han flere gange har indikeret, gerne vil til United kan det ikke blive før hans kontrakt udløber, eller tidligst til næste sommer, hvor United kan betale en mere realistisk pris.
Hvis han forventer, at græsset er grønnere i PSG, hvor han internationalt set vil være langt mindre profileret, da ligaen stadig kun er vurderet som den 5. bedste i Europa, kunne det selvfølgelig være en mulighed. Men jeg tror godt han ved, at han kun vil være så profileret, og kun have chancen for at spille på højeste niveau (og dermed udfordre Messi til Ballon d´or), hvis han spiller i Spanien eller England.
Det kunne være sjovt at se ham på samme hold som Messi, men det kommer desværre aldrig til at ske (i andet end måske en eller anden charity kamp i fremtiden).

Jeg skal se om jeg kan finde artiklen, men hvis jeg husker rigtigt kom kommentarerne vist oven på forrige U21 EM eller fra endnu længere tilbage, og han har forhåbentligt udviklet sig betydeligt siden.
Jeg mener ligeledes at journalisten påpegede at en afleveringsprocent på 85+ nok alligevel kunne gå an. Det var måske ikke den mest relevante kilde at citere, men det var bedste bud på lidt indsigt.

Jeg er mest spændt på, hvordan han tilpasser sig en tomands midtbane. Han må alt andet lige være blevet flasket op med noget lidt andet end Glaswegian working class philosophy.

I år var den på 91,8 i ligaen. Sidste år var den 92,7. Den indsigt var vist ikke skide god.

Touché

Imorgen overtager David Moyes officiel, håber det bringer nogle nyheder med om nogle transfers vi har gjort os.

Thiago ville være super, men for mig er det ikke verdens undergang hvis det ikke sker, der er flere gode mulighed. Vi mangler en eller to kvalitets midtbanespiller(e).

Strootman er helt sikkert en mulighed, han har både det offensive + defensive man kan vel godt kalde ham en b2b, men uprøvet på højeste niveau.

men den vildeste transfer ville klart være Gundogan, nu ved jeg godt at Dortmund nok ikke har tænkt sig at sælge hele butikken men hold kæft hvor er han et stortalent, han kæmper for bolden som en vild og vildt teknisk dygtig, ville ikke gøre mig noget at købe ham for 30-35£, ville være sublim for vores midtbane.

Om vi skal beholde Rooney er jeg i tvivl om, han virker udbrændt i klubben og trænger måske til at komme et andet sted. Han er Englænder og første valg for landsholdet og så har han været i klubben i 8år med utallige mål til følge, men udover det har vi jo 2 klasse angribere og et stort talent, så hvis vi kunne få en god slat penge for ham ville jeg ikke græde idet han jo selv slår tvivl om sin fremtid i klubben.

Ihvertfald bliver det en spændende sæson klubben går i møde, Glæder mig som et lille barn :)

Edit: dobbelt post