United insist they won't sell Ronaldo

Manchester United today declared their intention to keep hold of Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese winger's future has been the subject of intense speculation over the past three weeks, with the 21-year-old twice claiming he would like to move to Spain.

United manager Alex Ferguson initially suggested he would try to keep Ronaldo at Old Trafford and those comments have been reinforced by the Old Trafford outfit this morning.

"Manchester United has noticed the increasing media speculation over the future of Cristiano Ronaldo," a club statement read.

"The club can confirm there is no possibility of Cristiano being sold. Cristiano recently signed a new contract until 2010 and the club fully expects him to honour that contract.

"The club will not listen to any offers for Cristiano.

"Cristiano is one of the brightest young stars in world football, as demonstrated by his performances at the World Cup and Manchester United is not in the business of selling their best young players."

Paul Scholes, meanwhile, has made further progress in his bid to fully recover from the eye problem which wrecked his season.

Scholes was forced to miss virtually five months of the campaign due to a condition that initially confounded specialists.

Eventually, an extended rest period was ordered, with Scholes subsequently admitting he may suffer some double vision for the rest of his career.

After originally writing Scholes out for the season, Ferguson was welcomed the 31-year-old back for the final Premiership game against Charlton.

"I have been training for over a week now and there have been no problems," Scholes said. "Those two games at the end of last season have given me confidence because going into those matches, I wasn't quite sure how I would feel.

"But I was okay and I have improved even more over the summer so the future looks good."