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[Ronaldo The Wrong Move For Real?
Posted 26/06/08 13:54

Disgruntled Manchester United fans want it. Felipe Scolari wants it. Bored newspaper readers want it. His mum wants it. Darn near everyone wants Cristiano Ronaldo to be the latest Galactico hooked into the Real Madrid marketing machine.

Everyone, except Real Madrid fans, it seems.

Whilst the posing Portuguese pouter is being pictured standing around on yachts thanks to his country's rather sheepish exit from Euro 2008, Real Madrid are reportedly putting together the final touches to a whopping 85million Euro bid to bring the Champions League winner to the Bernabeu this summer with one Marca writer predicting the unveiling of the latest addition to their collection to be July 7.

Even if Sir Alex hurled himself in front of Ronaldo's departing taxi, suffragette style, the Old Trafford old timer would simply find himself squished and squashed, such is the ludicrous amount of money being slapped on the table for the want-away winger.

"If Real Madrid want to sign a player, then he is signed. They always manage it," shrugged Zidane this week. And he's a man who knows a thing or two about the lure of filthy lucre.

In less cynical Spain - although not in Messi-mad Cataluyna, mind - Cristiano Ronaldo is generally considered to be the best player in the world thanks to his remarkable goalscoring record and the fact that his bi- game bottling prowess is less publicised.

For this reason one would have thought that Real Madrid fans would be daisy-sniffing and dreamy at the thought of their new hair-gelled hero tearing opposition defenders a new one over the next few years.

But they're not. In fact, it's genuinely hard to find a supporter who doesn't think that the club's continuous craving for Cristiano is rather unhealthy.

When Ramón Calderón won the club's legally-dubious dog's dinner of a presidential election two years ago the candidate promised Kaká, Cesc Fabregas and Arjen Robben. The president only brought one of these to the Spanish capital. And he turned out to have just one functioning leg.

In bringing Cristiano Ronaldo to the Bernabeu, Calderón thinks that he will finally be loved and adored by the fans - something all club presidents constantly crave.

Currently, the Real Madrid big cheese is viewed as the George Bush of La Primera - the bumbling idiot-puppet of more powerful darker forces.

Aside from the need for Calderón's ego to be given a good rub, there is a clear on-the-pitch purpose for Ronaldo's possible arrival in the Spanish capital - the desperate need for the club to become a global footballing force again.

"What's important to us is to win the Champions League and he can help us to achieve that," confessed Bernd Schuster at the end of the season as he reflected on four years of second-round failure for Real Madrid in Europe.

Ronaldo would be expected to slot into the left midfield berth, a position currently shared between Robinho - a party-loving pest who has one good game in three, and Arjen Robben - a brilliant footballer on his day but as fragile as a brittle-boned snowflake.

The midfielder will also be filling a David Beckham-shaped gap off the field too. Since the England international headed to Los Angeles, the club's annual income from marketing has dropped from 124 million euros to 111 million.

Although most football fans like to hold their nose and claim the moral high ground over such matters, the dirty business of shirt sales and sponsorship deals is important to all clubs from Morecambe to Milan.

Real Madrid currently have a squad containing world-class players such as Iker Casillas and Wesley Sneijder, but none come close to having the profile of Cristiano Ronaldo.

But this strikes a stake into the heart of why the move for the Manchester United player is seen with less than enthusiastic eyes by most Madrid fans, who still have traumatic memories of the messy ending of Florentino Perez' Galactico era.

With back-to-back league titles in the bag, the current Real Madrid squad can only get better, but only if there are no major structural changes to upset a fairly harmonious bunch of players warned AS' Juanma Trueba at the end of May.

'Madrid is betting heavily on Cristiano and it's a risk to their image,' wrote Trueba in an on-line discussion with readers. 'It's a great threat to the ecosystem that Madrid have created with their mix of veterans and young players.'

During the recent, ten-week-long league title celebrations, Raúl reportedly asked Calderón not to break up the current squad - a giddy group of footballers that sees the club captain at his happiest in years. And a happy Raúl is a scoring Raul.

The arrival of Ronaldo and his wage structure-busting salary demands would a major threat to the harmony that Bernd Schuster has managed to bring to his squad, as well as kick off a round of distracting contract renegotiations from Raúl and Casillas - the side's top earners - to bring them to parity with the new boy.

A move for Cristiano Ronaldo would be a significant investment for a club whose debts grew last year and who are using a loan from Banco Santander to pay for the transfer, according to Marca. Despite this external funding, the arrival of just one big name means that several others would have to depart. "If he comes then we'll have to let one or two players go. They will be the victims," advised Bernd Schuster.

Unlike the likes of Roman Abramovich or the Glazers - who can spend their money how they damn well please - Ramón Calderón will be splashing cash that does not belong to him.

If the move goes Pete Tong, the club president can simply walk away - or be booted out - leaving the club with a financial mess for his replacement to clear up.

And this is another major concern to fans who would rather see modesty and sound financial management as the tactic for fighting their way back to football's top table.

"90 million euros is just too much," warned former player Manuel Sanchís.

What's more, 90 million is an awful lot of money to spend on a player that the club doesn't really need.

'If Schuster is not capable of getting past the last sixteen of the Champions League having spent 100 million euros, perhaps the problem is not the cheque book,' mused Roberto Palomer in Marca.

Real Madrid have yet to fill the right midfield position left by Beckham, a player that Schuster said would have played a key role last season had he stayed.

But most of all, the side needs another quality striker as a back-up and long-term replacement to Ruud Van Nistelrooy, as it was the absence of the injured Dutch striker and his ridiculously good goalscoring record that really cost Real Madrid a decent Champions League run last season.

Supporters in the city are currently calling for the signing of David Villa, but it is hard to see how a move for both the Valencia striker and Ronaldo could be funded without putting an unbearable strain on the club's finances or a devastating garage sale of Sneijder, Ramos and Robinho.

Having promised modesty and a return to the ethics of team spirit in his campaign of two years ago, Ramón Calderón is instead looking to turn the clock back to a Galactico era, best forgotten, by pursuing a signing that is not especially needed or especially desired.

With back-to back-league titles, a level of consistency and the emergence of Pepe, Sneijder, Gonzalo Higuaín and Fernando Gago, a more softly, softly approach is starting to bear fruit for the current Spanish champions.

For Real Madrid fans, the arrival of the world's best player could be a major step back for the club, despite how absurd that may sound.

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