Schuster's latest comments seem to have prompted a curt
response from United today. Ferguson is sure to be infuriated by
Schuster referring to the 23-year-old in a manner that would
suggest the signing has virtually been completed. "There are other
players we have been looking at but everything has slowed down a
little due to all this Cristiano Ronaldo business, seeing as he is
the big priority for the club," said Schuster.
"The English way has been a perfect education for a player with
such exceptional individual talent."There he has learned to enjoy
his football as a complete professional. This means we would get a
Cristiano who would arrive here with his lessons learned."
Given such a statement, Ferguson is probably glad he is due to
embark on his annual summer holiday next week, thus avoiding what
is sure to be a regular stream of stories linking Ronaldo with a
move to Madrid.
For his part, the United boss is adamant Ronaldo neither wants
to, nor will be, leaving Old Trafford this summer, claiming last
week the acid test of the relationship between player and club will
not be faced for another two years.
By that time, Ferguson expects his team to have added at least
one more European Cup to a tally they took to three with their
penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea in Moscow last week.
In addition, they could have overtaken Liverpool's record of 18
English championships; United moving to within one with their
latest success, the 10th of Ferguson's 23-year stint as
manager.
Not that Real are likely to be dissuaded by history. Although
they, like United, have won back-to-back titles, European success
has remained frustratingly out of reach since 2002 for the
nine-time winners, a record Schuster is determined to put right
with Ronaldo leading the charge.
"Cristiano would help us in a lot of ways, without a doubt, but
we can't stop with just him," he explained. "He'll be expensive and
we'll have to pay a lot of money, but we need more players because
he won't be enough.
"For a few months now we have had a plan and we know what we
want, but now Alexander Hleb has been added to that plan. "We
didn't know he would be able to leave Arsenal, but now it seems he
will."
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger will be about as happy with Schuster
as Ferguson but the German, who has impressed at Real since
replacing England boss Fabio Capello at the end of last season, is
not likely to be influenced by that. He certainly does not see the
man expected to be confirmed as the world's best player in December
being a problem to his squad, no matter what massive price tag is
attached and what attention he attracts. After all, this is the
club that signed David Beckham.
"In this Madrid side, the kid wouldn't create any problems," he
said. "For the fans this signing would be an amazing explosion
similar to what happened here when Beckham arrived. "This isn't
England, and that change will affect him. We have to be clever
about this and sort this problem out for the kid."
