Manchester United sells Ronaldo to Real Madrid for record $131.2m

MANCHESTER: Manchester United have agreed to sell Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for a world record 80 million pounds (130 million dollars, 94 million euros), the club said on Thursday.

"Manchester United have received a world-record, unconditional offer of 80 million pounds for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid," said a statement on its website, under the headline "Reds accept £80m Ronaldo bid."

The statement continued: "At Cristiano's request - who has again expressed his desire to leave - and after discussion with the player's representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player.

"Matters are expected to be concluded by 30 June. The club will not comment until further notice."

Ronaldo has long been a target for the Spanish giants, whose returning president Florentino Perez vowed earlier this week to do "everything possible" to take the 24-year-old to the Bernabeu.

The news comes just days after Real clinched the 56 million pounds transfer of Brazilian playmaker Kaka from Italian side AC Milan as they look to compete with arch-rivals Barcelona on the domestic front and such as Manchester United and Chelsea in the Champions League.

There was no immediate statement from Real Madrid.

Source:TOI

Giggs fires United back to summit

LONDON: Manchester United hammered out a statement of intent to their title rivals as the champions returned to the top of the Premier League with a 1-0 win at West Ham on Sunday.

Sir Alex Ferguson's side had arrived in east London in second place after Liverpool's late 3-2 fightback at Portsmouth 24 hours earlier.

But United showed they have no intention of relinquishing their crown as Ryan Giggs' second half goal sent them two points clear of Rafael Benitez's second placed side.

By the time Liverpool are next in action that lead will have extended to five points if United win their game in hand against Fulham on February 18.

The Old Trafford outfit are beginning to have the look of champions again and this was the kind of obdurate display that has become their hallmark this season.

For decades Ferguson has prided himself on producing teams who dazzle with their flair, but this crop of United stars are just as happy to grind out a 1-0 victory as they are to put on a show.

United's defensive excellence in recent weeks has reached record-breaking levels and they chalked up another milestone en route to a 13th consecutive cleansheet and an eighth successive win.

Ferguson's back-four needed to be at their best again as West Ham made a tigerish start.

Nemanja Vidic sent Lucas Neill's cross looping just over his own crossbar and from the resulting corner, Australia defender Neill forced Edwin van der Sar into action for the first time with a low strike.

Carlton Cole had a golden chance early on to show why England coach Fabio Capello, watching from the stands, had called the West Ham forward into his squad for Wednesday's friendly against Spain.

Cole had only van der Sar to beat as he surged onto David Di Michele's pass and held off Rio Ferdinand, but his attempted chip was easily stopped by the United keeper.

After a relatively subdued opening, United began to find some momentum.

Dimitar Berbatov had the ball in West Ham's net midway through the first half when he poked home Paul Scholes' deflected shot, but the United striker's effort was correctly ruled out for offside.

A clever corner to the edge of the penalty area by Giggs caught West Ham flat-footed and when Cristiano Ronaldo nudged Scholes' strike towards the top corner, Robert Green was forced to make a reflex tip over.

As the first half drew to a close van der Sar reached another landmark.

By keeping a cleansheet to that point he established a new British league record of 1,156 minutes without conceding a goal - beating the previous high set by Aberdeen's Bobby Clark in 1970-71.

West Ham's eight-match unbeaten run testified to their own fortitude and they pushed forward at the start of the second half, with Neill drawing a smart save from van der Sar.

But United's array of flicks and feints ensured the Hammers could never be comfortable.

With Ronaldo seemingly content to moan rather than mesmerise it was left to Giggs to break the deadlock in the 61st minute with a classic piece of wing-play.

Giggs relies more on experience than trickery nowadays but the Welsh midfielder showed he still has talent as he cut inside Cole's lunging tackle and swerved past Scott Parker into the penalty area before sending a fierce low shot fizzing past Green.

Gianfranco Zola's side responded well and Cole was unlucky to see a flicked effort deflect wide but, although United were never at their best, the feeling grew by the minute that the visitors' defence would remain unbreached again.

Source: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/eplarticleshow/4096245.cms

Man United tap Sahara for sponsorship deal

NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW: Imagine the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney turning out to play for their club with the name of an Indian company prominently emblazoned on their shirts.

This is no idle fantasy. Manchester United, the world's biggest football club, has reportedly approached the Sahara group for a sponsorship deal.

Sources said the club has been seeking sponsors and has sent a proposal to Sahara - which supports the Indian cricket team - for sponsoring the team's shirt.

Abhijit Sarkar, the head of Sahara's corporate communication, confirmed receiving the proposal but declined to comment further.

When TOI contacted Man U, a club official said, "We have been in touch with a lot of sponsors and hope to strike something in the near future."

Currently, American International Group (AIG) has a contract for sponsoring Man U shirts for £56.5 million (about Rs 415 crore). The four-year deal began in 2006.

But with AIG being hit hard by the financial meltdown, the deal appears to have run into trouble. That could explain Manchester United's search for new avenues of sponsorship.

Sahara keen on Man U proposal

World's premier football club Manchester United has sent a proposal to Sahara group for sponsoring the team's shirt.

According to sources, Man U's commercial director Richard Arnold has sent a proposal letter to the Lucknow-based group along with a host of related material like the club T-shirt with Sahara logo and a detailed dossier displaying pictures of Ronaldo and Rooney wearing T-shirts with the company name.

Sahara currently pays BCCI more than Rs 400 crore for shirt sponsorship of Team India for January 2006 to December 2009. The original amount was Rs 313 crore for three years, but the payout increased after the Indian board decided to play more One-day and Twenty20 matches.

This is the first time that any English football club - leave alone Man U, which has around 333 million fans worldwide - has looked to an Indian firm for sponsorship. Evidently, Sahara India's association with Indian cricket and hockey teams for more than a decade attracted the attention of Man U's bosses.

Sources in Sahara said they were keen on opening a dialogue with Man U but officials were tightlipped on proposal details.

"We have a healthy partnership with BCCI and the Indian Hockey Federation. Our foray into sports sponsorship has been very fruitful. But I can neither confirm nor deny the latest Man U move at the moment," said a top Sahara official.

Sources said Sahara wants the English club to first come to India and play a few matches. If Sahara does put its name on the Man-U shirt it will join the likes of AIG, Vodafone and Sharp who have done so earlier.


Sponsor Team Deal amount
Sahara Indian cricket team Over Rs 400cr
Tamoil Juventus 15m pounds a year
BenQ Real Madrid 14m pounds a year (2006)
T-Mobile Bayern Munich 11.4m pounds a year
Samsung Chelsea 10m pounds a year
Emirates Arsenal 100m pounds
AIG Man United 14m pounds a year
Carlsberg Liverpool 8m pounds a year

Arsenal amount also includes a 15-year stadium naming rights and eight-year team’s shirt deal

Source: http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/eplarticleshow/4004105.cms

Ronaldo commits to Manchester United

August 07, 2008 ,Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo said he will stay at Manchester United next season and is not about to join Real Madrid, Portuguese media reported on Wednesday.
"[United manager Alex] Ferguson heard my arguments and I heard his and between the two of us we decided that the best thing for both parties was that I should stay at Manchester United next season," Ronaldo was quoted as saying by Portugal's LUSA news agency.
LUSA said the quotes are from an interview with the player due to be published in Portuguese daily Publico on Thursday.
The comments were welcomed by United, who said "Ronaldo remains a Red" and "Cristiano Ronaldo is going nowhere" on their website, adding Ferguson's delighted reaction.
"We always knew this was the case," Ferguson told MUTV. "He's very happy here -- he's always been happy here.
"He's never had a complaint about Manchester United. He's always been treated properly and I have a great relationship with the boy, as do all the players.
"I think we can put this to bed now. It's finished. The boy's a United player and that's what's important."
Ronaldo, who is currently recovering from ankle surgery, added that he wants to quash any speculation that he would be staying at United against his will.
"Before any rumours emerge that I'm unhappy to stay at United I want to make one thing clear and that is that anyone who says that is lying," he was quoted as saying.
BODY AND SOUL
"I will give my body and soul to Manchester United. I will be fighting to honour this shirt with the determination and dedication I have always shown."
The 23-year-old, who won a Premier League and Champions League double last season with United, blamed himself rather than Real Madrid for the speculation over his future.
"I want to make it clear that I was the one responsible for this controversy. The directors of Real Madrid are not to blame because it was me who publicly voiced my willingness to sign for Real. I also ended up involuntarily being the reason for the conflict between the two clubs."
Ronaldo, who last year signed a five-year contract with the champions, said he had been interested in the move.
"I knew Real Madrid were interested and had allegedly made a high offer to United," he said. "For a while my intention was that United should accept to transfer me to Real and to say anything else would be to deceive people and my own conscience."
Ferguson was sympathetic to Ronaldo's response to the interest from Real.
"The fans have got to understand it's very hard when a young boy's tempted by all this money," said the Scot.
"He's a young lad from Madeira and his father died a young man. Cristiano now looks after his mother, sister and his brother, so I can understand that [money may have been tempting]."
Real president Ramon Calderon hinted on Tuesday that the long-running saga had come to an end.
Calderon said the Primera Liga club's new Dutch signing Rafael van der Vaart was "the first and almost certainly the last signing we will make this season".
The saga had been partly fuelled by comments from Ronaldo, who said during Euro 2008 [Images]: "The possibilities [of going to Real] are big but it doesn't depend on me.
A hugely valuable player for United, Ronaldo scored 42 goals last season and was named England's [Images] Footballer of the Year for a second successive time.
Publico said on its website that Ronaldo had decided to stay at United and that the full interview would be published on Thursday but did not give any direct quotes.

Source: www.rediff.com