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."