Cristiano Ronaldo's Lack of Commitment Must Lead to Manchester United Transfer

Elite forward Cristiano Ronaldo has played four spectacular seasons for Real Madrid. Despite that, he hasn't shown commitment to the club moving forward. Because of his unwillingness to re-sign, Los Blancos will soon have no choice other than to send him back to Manchester United.

According to Duncan Wright of The Daily Star, Ronaldo's former team has been negotiating with his current one over the past 12 days. The Red Devils have reportedly prepared an £80 million package to regain the services of Ronaldo, and they are confident that they will be able to bring him back to Old Trafford for the first time since 2009.

Ronaldo's contract with Real Madrid is valid for just two seasons, and Madrid haven't had any luck re-signing the Portuguese star to this point.

According to Wright, Madrid president Florentino Perez recently attempted to negotiate a new deal with Ronaldo, but Ronaldo revealed that he was interested in returning to his old stomping grounds.

This revelation certainly seems to make sense based on Madrid's link to Tottenham midfielder Gareth Bale.

According to Darren Lewis of Mirror Football, Madrid has already agreed to pay Tottenham £105 million in exchange for the 2012-13 FWA Footballer of the Year. That is obviously a huge chunk of change, and it probably wouldn't make much sense to pay both Bale and Ronaldo an exorbitant amount at once.

In a lot of ways, it almost seems like the Bale deal is contingent upon Ronaldo moving to Manchester United or vice versa.

The prospects of those two playing together are incredible, but it seems fairly unlikely. Although it would be nearly impossible to ease the sting of losing Ronaldo, bringing in a top star like Bale would absolutely help in that regard.

If Madrid and Ronaldo were making any progress in terms of a contract extension, then this probably wouldn't even be a discussion. If the powers that be at Madrid don't feel as though re-signing him is in the cards, however, selling Ronaldo now is likely the best move.

Los Blancos will get far more for him with two years remaining on his contract than they would if they tried to move him with an expiring contract.

Such a move would obviously make perfect sense for United as well since it would allow them to acquire arguably the best player in the world.

The Red Devils haven't had much success on the transfer market this offseason, but securing Ronaldo would make that a moot point. United were already the best team by a wide margin in the EPL last season, and adding Ronaldo may very well make them the best team in the world.

Also, the £80 million transfer fee could be relieved with relative ease due to striker Wayne Rooney's situation. Despite a great deal of interest, the Red Devils have been reluctant to sell him thus far. That would almost certainly change in the event of a Ronaldo acquisition as Rooney would be the odd man out among Ronaldo, Robin van Persie and Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez.

According to Jason Burt and Mark Ogden of The Telegraph, Chelsea is extremely interested in Rooney, and they are prepared to raise their bid to £40 million. If United brings back Ronaldo, then selling Rooney would be a no-brainer at that price as it would essentially cut the cost of Ronaldo in half. Ronaldo would still technically cost £80 million, but it would really only be £40 million in terms of dollars spent.

In many ways, the ball is now in Ronaldo's court. Madrid have the option to sell or keep him, but there wouldn't be much of a point in hanging onto him if he has no future at Bernabeu. The decision is an incredibly difficult one as Ronaldo has scored 201 goals in 199 appearances for the squad, but letting him go may be best in the long run.

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