RONALDO FUTURE UNCERTAIN
Posted 11/01/07 10:47
Ronaldo's Real Madrid career could well be drawing to an end, with
the possibility he will leave the Spanish giants before the
transfer window closes.
Plagued by injury and criticised for being overweight, Ronaldo has
been a shadow of his former self this season and has netted just
four times since returning to action at the end of September.
And it could be that he will be the first high-profile casualty of
Monday's emergency meeting between Real coach Fabio Capello,
sporting director Predrag Mijatovic, president Ramon Calderon and
technical secretary Franco Baldini.
The meeting was called to discuss Real's poor form, which has seen
the team lose three of their last four league matches culminating
in Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Deportivo La Coruna.
Although the specifics of that conference have not been made
public, Mijatovic claimed afterwards they highlighted the problem
areas and had implemented measures to deal with them.
One of those measures may well be to allow the 30-year-old Ronaldo,
a £29million from Internazionale in 2002, to leave.
Coach Capello has not openly criticised Ronaldo, but the Brazilian
was omitted from the Real squad for Thursday's Copa del Rey clash
with Real Betis.
Also missing from the squad for technical reasons were David
Beckham, Antonio Cassano, Michel Salgado, Francisco Pavon and
Alvaro Mejia - all senior players who have struggled to make an
impact this season.
When asked directly yesterday if he had a problem with Ronaldo,
Capello said: "I don't like to single anybody out. Win or lose,
it's a team affair and I head the entire project."
Regardless of that, Spanish media believe Ronaldo is living on
borrowed time at the Bernabeu.
Marca claim he has two offers on the table from interested clubs,
one from Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad and another from a European
side.
Ronaldo's contract with Real runs out in 2008 but, with the Spanish
side already building for the future by bringing in new blood such
as former River Plate striker Gonzalo Higuain, the three-time FIFA
World Player of the Year could decide to cut his losses at the
Bernabeu long before then.