Real Madrid send doctor to check on Cristiano Ronaldo as
Perez caves in on £75m fee to sign Manchester United
star
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Real Madrid have reportedly agreed to pay a world record
fee to sign Cristiano Ronaldo and have dispatched a doctor to
examine his hernia problem. Spain say the club’s new president
Florentino Perez has sanctioned a deal that will dwarf the £56m
paid to AC Milan for Kaka.
It has long been said that there is a pre-contract agreement to
sign Manchester United star Ronaldo – understood by Sportsmail to
be set at £75m. The contract, which United have previously denied
the existence of, would have to be executed before June 30, with
Madrid paying a £26m penalty if they broke the terms.
Perez’s predecessor Ramon Calderon has persistently hinted that
Ronaldo will arrive at the Bernabeu because of work he had already
done on the deal last summer. Perez is understood to be unhappy at
such a high fee and has reportedly been in talks with United chief
executive David Gill over the last few days in an attempt to
renegotiate the deal. But the Barclays Premier League champions
have refused to budge other than agreeing to take the payments
spread over five years, leaving Perez to reluctantly sanction the
transfer rather pay £26m and have no player.
El Mundo Deportivo says that a representative of the club and a
doctor have been sent to meet the 24-year-old in Los Angeles, where
he is recuperating after injury forced him out of the Portugal
squad.
His prospective new employers want to examine the suspected
hernia to see if it needs surgery, which may rule him out of the
start of the season, but they could move quickly to finalise the
deal if they are satisfied. He would receive about £200,000 a week
on a similar deal to Kaka.
Reports in Portuguese newspaper A Bola say Ronaldo will not need
surgery and that his pain is the natural result of a 59-match
season. While Calderon angered United boss Sir Alex Ferguson by
courting Ronaldo in public, Perez has not met the same resistance
despite constantly stating in interviews in recent days that he was
determined to sign the Portugal international.
Perez, 62, is said to have a much better relationship wit the
Old Trafford hierarchy, dating back to a time when he chaired the
now disbanded G-14 collection of Europe’s elite football clubs.
Bernabeu insiders insist the spending will not stop with a
player they have spent two years chasing. There is an estimated
£260m budget, with deals still in the offing for Bayern Munich star
Franck Ribery, Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso and plus Valencia trio David
Villa, David Silva and Raul Albiol.
He has also spoken warmly of Inter Milan striker Zlatan
Ibrahimovic, though it appears the club’s interest in Wigan winger
Antonio Valencia – which predates Perez’s appointment – may have
cooled.
