Boss: Ronaldo's staying put
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Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed he met with Cristiano Ronaldo in Portugal last week to discuss the player's future and insists the winger will not be sold to Real Madrid.
The 23-year-old has been openly coveted by Real Madrid over the last few months with the player himself reported to be keen on a switch to the Bernabeu.
However, at a press conference in South Africa to mark the start of United's pre-season trip, the Reds' boss reiterated the club's stance that Ronaldo is going nowhere.
"The meeting went well - I think we both put across our points of view - where we stand and where the player stands," explained Sir Alex.
"I can say he'll be a Manchester United player next season. That's our stance - he won't be sold."
Many of the tabloids had speculated that comments attributed to Ronaldo over his desire to move to Madrid may have put a strain on his relationship with his manager. But Sir Alex says that has never been the case.
"It’s not a difficult position. I was on my holiday and I was not going to interrupt my holiday, believe me," he insisted after being asked why he had not commented on the matter up to this point.
"I wasn’t panicked because the player is under contract so the strength and the rights are with Manchester United.
"What we have done well is to say nothing. We’ve kept quiet on this matter and kept it private and what I said to amicable – there were no problems. That’s where we are and we carry on."
The winger is currently recovering from ankle surgery and Sir Alex confirmed Ronaldo is unlikely to be back in action until October.
"He’s had an operation and he’ll be out for three months," said the manager. "He’s on crutches for the first four weeks, he’ll be in rehabilitation for the next four and then the following four he’ll be back into football training. The time mapped out is three months and we won’t bring him back a day earlier than that.
"I think when players have operations we have a responsibility that the player comes back 100 per cent and we’ll carry that out as we normally do. There’ll be no risk-taking – we never take risks. Our goal is to always make sure that the player gets back 100 per cent and that will be the same in the case of Cristiano Ronaldo." -
I wonder what Real's newspaper and President is going to say no...