Spanish press reinvigorates our favourite summer transfer saga

Since Alex Ferguson thwarted Cristiano Ronaldo’s plans to move to Spain last summer, the tricky winger has dropped plenty of hints that he will bid adieu to rainy Manchester in summer 2009 (see hints here, here and here).

Spanish paper Sport today adds further fuel to the transfer fire, by claiming Emilio Botin, the chairman of Santander bank, has given the green light for a €70m loan to secure the services of the Portuguese star.

Sport claims the two clubs agreed to the transfer at the end of last summer, and the fee is expected to be around €100m. This agreement, however, has a clause that states Manchester Utd can back out of the deal if it is revealed in the press.

We don’t know what surprises us more: the rubbish press clause, the fact that Madrid have secured such a huge loan so easily at a time when banks have little inclination to give out credit, or the idea that Fergie would sell the Spaniards anything other than a virus.