Is it the right time for the Red Devils to flog their biggest asset?
Despite Sir Alex Ferguson’s vitriolic insistence that he wouldn’t sell Real Madrid a virus, it seems that Manchester Utd have finally caved to the wishes of their star player, and agreed to sell him to their Spanish rivals.
It many respects, it’s a very sensible time for Ronaldo to depart - for starters, the preposterous £80m bid is an excellent return on a player who cost just £12.3m in 2003. The Portuguese star has made absolutely no secret of his desire to play at the Bernebeu, his petulance and humongous ego often threaten to get in the way of his game, and he would probably ask for a similar move at the end of each forthcoming season until he got his own way.
However, some might say it’s a mistake to part with the tricky winger at this stage. No other player in the world could possibly contribute as many goals from a wide forward position (alright, maybe Leo Messi), and his tenacity is as unfaltering as his winning mentality. Also, what does it say about Utd’s ambitions if they are happy to sell their best player to a team who have done very little on the big stage in recent years?
So, were Utd right to accept the bid, or should they have held on to their want-away star for a little while longer? Let us know your thoughts below…
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9 responses so far
1 Joey // Jun 11, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I know nobody wants to think about the team as a business, but jeezus, you can’t turn that kind of cash down.
2 f1sh // Jun 11, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I don’t understand your point about Man Utd’s lack of ambition.
“what does it say about Utd’s ambitions if they are happy to sell their best player to a team who have done very little on the big stage in recent years”
What does it say to you? To me it says they sold him to the highest bidder, hell if Boavista came up with this sort of cash and Ronaldo would want to go there why shouldn’t they sell him? For what its worth it would only show lack of ambition on Ronaldo’s part as Real are by no means a winning team. Let them buy all the forwards in the world but it doesn’t mean they will go on and destroy teams. Their defence is rotten and if they don’t get couple of decent defenders they are in for a big shock come the end of the season. I hope they end up empty-handed as throwing this kind of money around is plain silly.
3 Gupta // Jun 11, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Its all about marketing. They brought it $600 million alone from beckham. These two (Kaka and Ronaldo) are predicted to make them $175 million a year from marketing stuff.
Its not always about football.
No doubt why they are the top money making club in the world
4 williamhill // Jun 11, 2009 at 4:46 pm
80m is too good to turn down, plus ronaldo wants out. although, real might be the real winners here with the shirt sale. compare to the money theyre gonna make with marketing the two acquisitions, 80m is pocket change.
5 shay // Jun 11, 2009 at 5:56 pm
As sad as it will be to see him go, any supporter of United would want a player to go when he doesn’t want to be there anymore. For Ronaldo personally it will probably be one of the worst mistakes he has ever made. Money isn’t everything, especially when you already have a huge mountain of it.
6 Sepp Blatter // Jun 11, 2009 at 8:58 pm
excellent. slave no more. mwahahaha
7 Danny Laa // Jun 12, 2009 at 1:23 am
One snotty nosed wanker out of the premier league to make way for that snotty nosed wanker Macheda. Wicked.
8 abc // Jun 12, 2009 at 5:54 am
What does it say about the premier league, when no one wants to play for it?
Thank god Torres is still here…
Why Madrid?? They were the most embarrassing team last season.
9 abc // Jun 12, 2009 at 5:55 am
^
Sorry Newcastle is, but Madrid weren’t much better