• Transfer 'a good deal and a fair deal' for Manchester
United
• 'Crazy' money move prompted soul-searching at Old Trafford
Sir Bobby Charlton holds up a camera during a
Manchester United promotional event in Beijing.
The Manchester
United director Sir Bobby Charlton has
described Real
Madrid's transfer payment for Cristiano
Ronaldo as "vulgar" but says there is no ill feeling towards the
player for leaving.
Charlton said Sir Alex Ferguson can be trusted to use the £80m
transfer fee to recruit top-notch players, although acknowledging
the departure of the club's best player had prompted some "soul-
searching" at Old Trafford.
The two clubs expect to complete the world-record transfer
before the end of the month, a year after United successfully
fended off an earlier bid by Madrid for the Portugal winger.
"Ronaldo leaves us because as a young boy he always dreamt about
playing for Real Madrid, so if he leaves us it is with our
blessing," said Charlton, who was in Beijing today on club
business. "We are very grateful that he has scored goals, that he
has played well, that he's contributed to the fame of Manchester
United."
Charlton said the transfer was "a good deal and a fair deal" for
Manchester United, who now have considerable resources to acquire
new attacking talent to play alongside the likes of Wayne Rooney,
Dimitar Berbatov and the veterans Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.
"It is an enormous amount of money and it sometimes [seems] a
little bit vulgar," Charlton said. "But nevertheless that is
business, I am afraid. We have responsibilities as a company.
"It's a lot of money. It seems crazy really, but the more money
the players cost, the more the television companies appear to be
able to contribute that little bit more too.
"It is a little bit of soul-searching. You wonder if you made
the right decision. We shall never know until the season
starts."
Charlton expects Ferguson to continue making the sort of bold
transfers that have led United to 11 out of 17 Premier League
titles. It was the sale of David Beckham, also to Real Madrid, that
enabled the Ronaldo purchase in 2003.
"He is a great judge of the player. Alex Ferguson is very brave,
he's very brave with his decisions, he's very decisive with his
decisions, and that is why he's been a major success," Charlton
said.