Cristiano Ronaldo on the move

By Leah
July 10 2006

In light of his recent deserved criticism, Cristiano Ronaldo has once again stated his desire to play in La Liga. The race for his signature can begin, with Real Madrid and FC Barcelona interested. The outspoken Manchester United winger told the world press today: "I should get out of Manchester as the
circumstances are not right. Nobody stood up for me and my desire is
to play in Spain. Will it be Real or Barcelona? It will be one of
them."

Of course, when he says no-one stuck up to him, he is referring Sir
Alex Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz's lack of apparant support regarding
an incident in the World Cup involving Manchester United team-mate
Wayne Rooney. The infamous incident occured during Portugal's
semi-final victory of England, where it was claimed Ronaldo tried to
influence the referee in an attempt to get Rooney sent off. The
controversial Portuguese was since heavily booed throughout in the
tournament and it is inevitable that should Ronaldo return to the
Premiership, he will not be given a warm welcome! The star had a
considerable glittering tournament otherwise, but some of his better
performances were overshadowed by the player's unsporting behaviour
and the 22-year old came out of the World Cup certainly enhancing his
diving and cheating reputation, if nothing else.

Of course, unsurprisingly, there some Manchester United fans who want
to keep the player - after all, he is a great player with a massive
future ahead of him. And with a question mark hanging over Ruud van
Nistelrooy's future, it is understandable that they don't want to lose
2 of their key players. Though for many more, at the moment, it's hard
to see Ronaldo as anything other than a disloyal, cheating, arrogant,
mercenary...

Ronaldo's likely destination will be Real Madrid, with Fabio Capello
known to be an admirer of the player. "He is a Manchester United
player but everyone wants to come to play here and I think he really
wants to and this is good news for me," said Capello.

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