Another hurdle: Cristiano Ronaldo is still in Real Madrid's
long-term planning.
Real Madrid are set to reopen their public courtship
of Manchester
United star Cristiano Ronaldo. United
may have hoped the saga was over but sources in Spain suggest that
the Ronaldo will be at the centre of a power struggle at the
Bernabeu.
Madrid president Ramon Calderon has closed the door on very
public attempts to sign the winger in the short term. But
Sportsmail understands that Florentino Perez is expected to stand
for election for Calderon's job with a pledge of trying to sign
Ronaldo.
The well-connected 'Confidential' column in Catalan newspaper
Sport reports that Perez
even has a verbal agreement with the player's agent Jorge Mendes
that Ronaldo would be ready to leave Old Trafford by the time of
the 2010 elections.
The pledge is likely to be such a vote-winner that Calderon is
expected to follow suit and declare he would also try to sign the
former Sporting Lisbon star - despite the risk of angering
Manchester United once again.
To make things even more messy, Barcelona also hold presidential
elections on the summer of 2010, with former director Sandro
Rossell set to stand for election with a pledge to take the
23-year-old to the Nou Camp.
Top honours: Ronaldo is passed the Club World Cup trophy by
team-mate Nemanja Vidic.
Ronaldo recently said he was happy to stay at Old Trafford
despite agitating for a move to Spain last summer.
A Spanish newspaper close to Perez last month claimed that
Madrid had a secret agreement to sign Ronaldo next summer, which
has been denied by United and the player.
The leak has been interpreted as some observers as trying to
destabalise any approach by Calderon for Ronaldo before the
elections in 18 months' time.