Expectation in Madrid after Cristiano Ronaldo comments

Jun 20, 2008, 9:52 GMT

Madrid - Madrid was in a state of expectation and anticipation on Friday as a result of the comments by Cristiano Ronaldo that he wishes to leave Manchester United.

Ronaldo, 23, told the media after Portugal's Euro 2008 elimination by Germany on Thursday that he wants to make a 'dream step forward.'

However, he did not specifically mention a switch to Real Madrid.

Real president Ramon Calderon - for whom signing Ronaldo seems to have become an obsession - has repeatedly said that he would only make an offer for Ronaldo once the winger has made it clear that he wants to leave Old Trafford.

'You know what I want,' he told the media, somewhat enigmatically, in Basle after the 3-2 defeat. 'I am not going to say more. In a couple of days there will be statement.'

He added that 'I took the decision before the final of the Champions League' (in which United beat Chelsea on penalties). 'I did not want to speak before now in order to not prejudice Portugal, but Euro 2008 is now over for me and I want to explain all of this.'

Ronaldo then said that 'it is something that I dream about, and my family as well...Also, Manchester United know perfectly what I want.'

He then referred to Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's decision to join Chelsea.

'He has said that the train only passes once...He has taken advantage of his opportunity to sign for Chelsea, and other people also want to take advantage of our opportunities.'

Ronaldo denied that he had refused to talk to United manager Sir Alex Ferguson on the telephone.

Ferguson is, by all accounts, annoyed at Ronaldo's desire to leave Old Trafford. United filed a complaint to the ruling body FIFA about Real illegally approaching a player under contract, but the complaint has been rejected because of lack of evidence.

Ronaldo's comments were front-page news on Friday in sports dailies Marca and AS, even taking priority over Sunday's Spain-Italy quarter-final showdown at the Euro event.

Marca said that Calderon will now offer United around 50 million euros (77.62 million dollars) plus various players for Ronaldo.

AS, for its part, said that Calderon is prepared to pay up to 80 million euros for the Portuguese flyer - thus breaking the world transfer record.

However, AS editor Alfredo Relano asked in his daily column on Friday whether such a deal would really be in Real's best interests.

He said that Real, in order to get Ronaldo, will have to 'scrape the money box to the bottom' and also sell off players like Brazilians Robinho and Julio Baptista.

Relano also spoke of a 'risk of disorder' of paying Ronaldo much more than the other players - allegedly up to nine million euros per season - who might then demand similar salaries for themselves.