I wasn't aware The Express even had a sports section as I thought it was devoted entirely to Princess Diana and the royal family. That said, no newspaper has shown itself to be accurate when it comes to spewing out transfer gossip. Tabloid or broadsheet, makes no difference.
I know but they are quoting a Spanish paper. I suppose they wanted something about other then how immigrants are causing cancer and only the second coming of Diana will save us or how this country is full of ****s under pictures of thirteen year old in bikinis.
The Ronaldo speculation has been killed by Perez almost implying they were prepared to pay the outstanding tax owed by Ronaldo. It confirms that CR is now untouchable at Real (if we didn't know that already). It was a very long shot anyway. The DeGea + £175m swap speculation was utterly ridiculous. We need Morata more than we need James Rodrigues. Like last season showed, we have enough playmakers. What we need is someone to convert a few of the thousand chances created.
They are holding out for E100m or nearly £90m. If we were going to spend that amount why not go for Aguero + Sanchez?
I get the impression that Ronaldo isn't looking for somebody to pay the bill for him, he's more pissed at Spanish Authorities for going after him. Nobody knows exactly how much he owes them if anything and he puts **** loads into their system already no doubt. If he wants to move, he'll get the move. It just depends who can afford it. I think only City's owners would come up with a package like £250m and £1m per week after tax, but I'm sure he'd rather dine out on his own chod every night than represent that shower of **** every weekend.
The tax issue is a bit of a red-herring. Here in Spain, if you are a tax resident, you have to declare your global assets for scrutiny by the Spanish tax authorities - so Ronaldo (and JM too it seems by reports in the local press) have failed to declare assets paid to him by RM for image rights that were held offshore in the British Virgin Islands. CR used this same company to deal with his tax affairs when he played for us. The tax authorities will hassle him for settlement and he will pay a fraction of the money owed - so the fact that we are talking about a final tax bill of around €6m for someone of his wealth is nothing. That cannot be the reason behind these stories. There is a mood here that is hard to gauge, some think he does wants out and is testing the market, others think RM are using reports of Mbappe/Lewanowski as possible incoming targets as a way of making one or two players decide to jump before they are pushed. CR is walking a very fine line with a powerful group of very vocal RM fans who are ready to vent their fury if he so much as drops a definite hint that he wants out - these are the boo-boys who, for whatever reason, regularly give him a hard time.
I would expect Ronaldo to come out with something very soon. If this is realistic, say so. If not, say so. What he knows he should not do, as someone who professes to still have a lot of love for United and us, is string us along all summer.
I don't suppose he gives a **** about that really. He's always had an uneasy relationship with them, which is bizarre to be honest. He owes them **** all, he's delivered on the pitch every week for years.
I would be amazed if many United fans really believed that there was a realistic prospect of him coming to United. Real have already intimated they will slap an unreal fee on him. I would have thought that even at £150m there might be some interest but at £350m it goes beyond the possible. At the moment I think there is zero chance of him coming to United.
Player demands transfer, clubs reach an agreement. That's how it works. No way on this earth will Real Madrid force Ronaldo to stay and not play and take everything that goes with it, no way. They'll ship him out and get a replacement with the money.
My local papers (which are heavily Barca biased - so not much better than the British press) seem to think that RM will buy Mbappe, but leave him at Monaco to develop for another year. They will also bring in Lewandowski as a replacement out-and-out striker........ but for who, that is the question.
Yeah if he genuinely wants to come then he needs to force through a move, and let us know he wants to come back. Once he's done this he should not change his mind. If this is just another toys out of the pram moment to get a new deal, and he's using us to get money out of Real again. Then he can piss off! I'm sure this whole Ronaldo story has been what has been holding up the Morata deal being confirmed. As things have been in place for that deal to be completed for weeks. We could end up losing out on players and having another disastrous summer in the transfer market, if he is just playing games with us.
Has anyone else thought this could all be a publicity stunt too. Rather than the back pages all having headlines about Ronaldo being accused of tax evasion. Instead they are all talking about his future.
This might come as a shock because most things in the papers are always usually true but Bayern and his agent have said its all a load of made up bullshit. I know, shocking right???
