REAL MADRID are maintaining their pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo despite the news the Manchester United winger will miss the start of the new season after undergoing surgery on his ankle.
The Spanish club's president Ramon Calderon said he was aware of Ronaldo's problem, and that if the 23-year-old wanted to leave Old Trafford then United would find it difficult to keep him.
Calderon said: "It depends on the player, on Ronaldo. Since I've known football it has been the case that the desires of the footballer are what decide matters.
"If Ronaldo wants to leave Manchester, he'll leave. If he wants to stay, he'll stay.
"I don't think you can keep anyone in a place where they don't want to be, not even in a family.
"But I insist that for a formal negotiation to start Manchester United will have to open their doors to us. Manchester have to want to talk."
On Ronaldo's ankle injury, Calderon added: "At the moment that is something which should only concern the player and United."
Ronaldo yesterday underwent surgery on his right ankle but it will be at least a month before Professor Niek van Dijk, the Dutch ankle specialist who operated on him, can assess when he will be ready to return to action.
Van Dijk is one of the world's foremost experts in ankle injuries, and is a former head of the Dutch Squash Federation's medical committee. He operated on the Portuguese winger at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam.
United said in a statement afterwards: "Cristiano Ronaldo underwent surgery today to his right ankle and the initial indications are that the procedure was successful.
"Cristiano will begin his convalescence under the direction of club medical staff and an estimation of his return to full fitness will be possible following review by the specialist in one month."
United, meanwhile, are resigned to losing Alex Ferguson's assistant Carlos Queiroz, who is to become head coach of the Portugal national side.
Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins has denied that his club's manager Roberto Martinez is in the running to succeed Queiroz, while Barnsley manager Simon Davey has played down reports linking him with the job.
Tony Mowbray is resigned to losing Kevin Phillips, with the West Bromwich Albion manager expressing his disappointment that the striker did not "back his ability" to win a 12-month extension to the one-year contract he was offered at The Hawthorns.
Phillips, who was Albion's leading scorer last season, is expected to join Birmingham City on a free transfer, having rejected Albion's final offer and turned his back on a return to the Premier League.
Crystal Palace have withdrawn their contract offer to Clinton Morrison to all-but signal the end of the striker's Selhurst Park career.
Morrison has been a free agent since the start of July and has not returned for pre-season training.
The Republic of Ireland international was offered a new two-year deal after top scoring with 16 goals last season but manager Neil Warnock is no longer prepared to wait for an answer from the 29-year-old, who has been linked with QPR and Coventry.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)