Ramon Calderon’s pre-contract agreement rears its ugly head

In a development that Catalan newspaper Sport are calling “Another poisoned inheritance from [Ramon] Calderon,” it has emerged that Real Madrid are financially obligated to sign Cristiano Ronaldo before June 30th.

According to the terms pre-contract deal C-Ron agreed with the disgraced former president, if he does not become a Madrid player by the end of this month, the club will owe him €30m in compensation.

Sport do not imply that Los Blancos are no longer interested in the Portuguese star, but they believe current president Florentino Perez has been put between a rock and a hard place by the pre-contract agreement. If they do not find a way to un-do Calderon’s handiwork, they face the prospect of paying around €120mwhen signing on fees, commission and tax are taken into account.

Ideally, the Spaniards would like to renegotiate the pre-contract and pay no more than €75m for the hooker-lovin’ winger, so that they have enough money left in the kitty to secure the services of Franck Ribery. The Frenchman would cost somewhere between €50m and €60m, according to figures that Sport probably plucked out of thin air.

Whether this pre-contract obligation is true or not, we are definitely in for another drawn-out summer transfer saga…