Bye-bye Cristiano Ronaldo...

Picture courtesy of Manutd.com

I just heard the news from my colleague yesterday late evening that Manchester United has accepted an £80m (RM465m) offer from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo. This transfer fee will be a world record surpassing Zinedine Zidane £63m move also to Real Madrid from Juventus in 2001. According to the news revealed in ManUtd.com, the team official website, the transfer will be concluded by 30 June 2009 and there will be no further comments relating to this matters until further notice.

I feel that it is timely for United to let Ronaldo go considering his sulking reactions and deep of forms (relatively to his own standard) in recent months and cash in as much as they can while his value is still soaring. It was a good investment for United as he was signed from Sporting Lisbon for £12.24m in 2003. Since his first debut against Bolton in 16 August 2003, he has constributed 118 goals in all competitions and his highest achievement with United was lifting the Champions League trophy in 2008 in Moscow, albeit he missed the penalty in the lottery shootout. He has received many accolades and honours from fellow players and journalist. The climax was when he was named FIFA Wold Player of the Year in January 2009 and became the first Devil to win the award.

So, what's next in the mind of Sir Alex Ferguson. With Tevez looked certain to leave Old Trafford, there are rumours that Bayern Munich's Frank Ribery and Wigan's Antonio Valencia as the potential replacement. With the money coming from Ronaldo's transfer fee, I believe Sir Alex should also further strengthen the central midfield which was almost non-existence during the 2009 Champions League Final against Barcelona. This is the area I think will cause the most headache to Sir Alex. Also, the gaffer should consider buying more lethal striker in the like of Karim Benzema of Lyon or Madrid's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. I wish this will be done very soon before Man United Asian Tour to Malaysia on 18/7/09 so that we can watch the new look United first hand. And we shall wait and see...