Hail the New Galacticos: Ronaldo Signs with Real Madrid in an £80m Deal

It did not come as a surprise but when it did come it still took us by surprise.

Ronaldo finally got the transfer he wished and Perez has finally got the player he wanted.

True to his word, Perez blew the transfer market wide open with the arrivals of Kaka and Ronaldo.

Kaka signed for a reported £56m on a six-year deal and now Ronaldo for £80m—all financed by bank loans on preferential rates of interest.

Has Madrid not learned from its past mistakes?

Perez, ever the astute businessman, plans to use Kaka and Ronaldo in a new drive to market Real Madrid like never before.

Ronaldo, 24, has not even hit his peak and Kaka, at 27, is nearing his. These two players will help Real bring in more marketing money, shirt sales, sponsorship money than any other club in the world.

Manchester United is now left without its talisman and marketing lead.

In football and marketing terms, Ronaldo is nigh on irreplaceable.

Who will score the 25 goals a season that Ronaldo would guarantee?

Who will be the new face of United marketing campaigns?

Ronaldo is 24, he has perhaps eight more years at the top barring injury.

If Real Madrid discounted his transfer fee over the eight years, that's £10m a season. When you consider United paid £30.75m for Berbatov on a four year contract that worked out at £7.7m a season you start to wonder: did United sell out too cheaply?

Any knee jerk signing by United will be seen as reckless.

Sir Alex Ferguson needs to decide how to play his cards. He will know the price has just gone up of any player he would have liked to sign.

Ferguson has always been a gambler and I suspect he might not replace Ronaldo immediately. Whenever some of United's past high-profile players like Beckham, Stam, and Nistelroy left, they were not replaced immediately by with like replacements.

Whatever happens now, we all know this has already been the best end of season transfer window ever.

Now could anything top Ronaldo's £80m transfer?