ALEX FERGUSON last night revealed that he was “trying to make sure” that Cristiano Ronaldo does not join Real Madrid and he may have found an unexpected ally in Florentino Perez. The favourite to win July’s presidential elections at the Santiago Bernabeu appears to be cooling on signing the Manchester United winger.
Perez remains prepared to return to Ronaldo should other options break down but his primary targets lie elsewhere, with Kaka and Franck Ribery at the head of a list of preferred signings that also includes Xabi Alonso and David Villa.
It was reported in April that Ronaldo’s representatives had struck a deal with the then Madrid president Ramon Calderon to bring the Portugal international to the Bernabeu. But Calderon was ousted following a vote-rigging scandal and the deal would not be legally binding for the incoming president.
Perez need not fear repercussions if he did not follow through on Calderon’s promise to sign Ronaldo because the deal – struck between Calderon on behalf of Madrid and Jorge Mendes on behalf of Ronaldo without the agreement of United – would contravene Fifa transfer regulations and have no legal basis.
At his unveiling as a presidential candidate last week, Perez announced he would have to “do in one year what would normally be done in three”. He is keen to make more than one marquee signing and believes the amount likely to be needed to prise Ronaldo from Old Trafford is prohibitive. Calderon briefed he could sign the winger for about €80-€100 million and, desperate to add a star name, was prepared to commit a season’s budget to just one signing. Perez is not.
Doubts also remain about United’s willingness to sell. Despite his silence on specific targets, Perez has made great play of the close relationship he enjoys with Milan’s vice-president Adriano Galliani. No such link exists with United.
Kaka, the Milan midfielder, is an attractive, cheaper and more accessible proposition for the latest Madrid galactico, who would allow for greater resources to be directed towards other players. Reports in the Spanish press that Perez had been unimpressed with Ronaldo’s strop after being substituted against Manchester City 11 days ago can be read as a smokescreen, a timely excuse.
Although Perez wants to sign star players, he has been persuaded by his future director general, Jorge Valdano, and Zinedine Zidane, who looks likely to play a role within the sporting directorate, of the need to strengthen elsewhere. Zidane has been outspoken in his desire to see his compatriot Ribery, the Bayern Munich forward who is wanted by Manchester United, at the Bernabeu; Valdano is particularly keen on signing Alonso, the Liverpool midfielder.
Both Rafael Benitez and Alonso have recently insisted there are no plans for the 27-year-old to leave, and the club yesterday said he was “not for sale”, but the Liverpool manager may be receptive to an offer in the region of the €18 million he wanted for Alonso last summer. Signing Kaka would offer another significant political advantage: his arrival would flag up a new era at the club and lay bare the difference between the discredited Calderon and Perez. Kaka is the player Calderon promised to sign but never did.
Buying Ronaldo would send a rather more ambiguous message. Calderon reiterated his claim to have struck a deal with Ronaldo even after he had been ousted from the presidency, insisting that his successor could execute the deal. The point he was trying to make was clear: even if Ronaldo joins a club whose president is Perez, I was the man that brought him to Madrid.
Perez does not want to be seen to endorse Calderon’s deal, nor does he wish to have a player even vaguely seen as Calderon’s signing. In part, it is that rationale that has made Perez keen to find a buyer for Arjen Robben, whose signing was the one presidential promise Calderon delivered, after failing with Kaka and Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas.
