Premiership news: Manchester United's robust announcement that they would not allow Cristiano Ronaldo to leave Old Trafford was undermined by suggestions last night that he had been plotting his departure for the last 10 months.
Alex Ferguson's inquiries are understood to have indicated that Ronaldo broached the subject with his agent Jorge Mendes last September and that potential buyers were informed shortly after that it would be his final season in England.
The evidence gathered by Ferguson is said to show the strength of Ronaldo's feeling and reaffirms that his desire to leave has nothing to do with the fallout from Wayne Rooney's sending-off in the World Cup.
Ronaldo first publicly stated that he wanted to sign for Real Madrid a week before the England-Portugal game and Ferguson suspects that the incident with Rooney is being used as an excuse. Ronaldo's team-mates are said to be bemused by his claims that he has not had any support from Ferguson or the club's owners, the Glazer family, after being vilified for the underhand tactics he showed in the World Cup. It is a standing joke among United players that Ronaldo is teacher's pet so far as Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz are concerned.
Ferguson is dismayed by Ronaldo's stance during what has become a fraught summer for the United manager. While Chelsea signed Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack, Salomon Kalou and, to Ferguson's intense irritation, Jon Obi Mikel, United have failed to keep their chief executive David Gill's promise that all their transfer business would be completed before the World Cup.
Deals have provisionally been put in place to sign Michael Carrick from Tottenham Hotspur and West Bromwich Albion's goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak but, when it comes to more glamorous targets, the club's pulling power appears to have waned.
It is three years since the Premiership trophy last resided at Old Trafford and, if Ronaldo were to leave, he would be the first player in Ferguson's 20 years in office to decide that the club no longer matched his ambitions, a fact that may have contributed to the manager authorising a statement saying there was "no possibility" they would sell.
"Cristiano recently signed a new contract until 2010 and the club fully expects him to honour that contract . . . We are not in the business of selling our best young players."
Ronaldo was more equivocal in declarations to the Spanish and Portuguese press. "There are possibilities for me to continue at Manchester United but there are other possibilities as well," he said. "There is still nothing concrete but I believe the issue will be resolved before the end of the week."
Meanwhile, another young player in demand, Cesc Fàbregas, will sign an improved Arsenal contract later this month confirming his commitment to the Champions League finalists until 2011 and ending Real Madrid's hopes of recruiting the Spain international.
The deal does not represent an extension to the five-year contract he already holds but the 19-year-old will be handed a replacement agreement that will reflect the seniority he now enjoys in Arsenal's first team.
Fàbregas is on holiday in Mauritius following his outstanding performances at the World Cup and is being represented in the contract talks by his agent Joseba Diaz.
Fàbregas's status in the side will be further enhanced when he takes on the number-four shirt once worn by Patrick Vieira. Indeed, Wenger yesterday took the unusual step of speaking out to underline Arsenal's desire to retain their teenage midfielder in the face of competition from Madrid. "I would like to make it clear that Cesc Fàbregas is not for sale and we will not be listening to any offers for him," he said.
It emerged yesterday that those comments were made at the request of the player himself, who wants to draw a line under the speculation and politely inform Madrid that he is content at Arsenal. - Guardian Service
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