Futbol Chronicles: Cristiano Ronaldo Officially Joins Madrid!

The Cristiano Ronaldo saga officially ended early this morning when Manchester United announced it had accepted an £80m bid from Real Madrid for the Portuguese winger. 

The deal is expected to be completed by June 30, and Manchester will save at least a hundred million pounds, which it can spend on the transfer market, something which manager Alex Ferguson will look forward to in his quest to rebuild United.

As for Ronaldo, this ends six and a half years at a club where he made his name and left a mark on the beautiful game. He was an instrumental in leading Manchester to its pinnacle success last year with the European Cup, the Premier title, and Carling Cup victory as well.

His flashes of brilliance, superior technique, and crowd pleasing majestic goals will surely be missed by the faithful at Old Tradford, but Ferguson appears to have turned the page and begun a new era at United. 

Real Madrid's capture of Ronaldo only signified Florentino Perez's intentions of building the storied club into one the great sides of Europe again, helped by the earlier signing of Kaka from Milan this week. 

Red Devils fans are sure to be as disappointed to see their star player go, but the writings on the wall for both Kaka's and Ronaldo's departures were evident since both players expressed interest in possibly playing for Madrid some time ago.

The question now becomes who will fill Ronaldo's shoes at Manchester, and already speculation is that Ferguson now has his eyes on Antonio Valencia, Frank Ribery, and possibly Klass-Jan Huntelaar or Rafael Van der Vaart from Madrid as well.

Spanish striker David Villa proved to be another possible signing for the Red Devils should he sanction such a proposed move.  

Villa would proved to an upgrade over Bulgarian flop Berbatov, but Ferguson also realizes he has to shore up the midfield with a central and defensive midfielder as soon as possible since Scholes may finally leave the club at the end of next season.

Several players from Madrid, such as Huntelaar, Van der Vaart, Arjen Robben, Guti, and Royston Drenthe are expected to be on the way out.  

According to latest reports, at least nine players at the club are expected to be on the outs, paving the way for Ronaldo and Kaka to take the reigns at the Bernabau. 

With Ronaldo's impending arrival, it seems Real Madrid is finally heading back to supremacy, and Barcelona is surely worried at the possibility of playing against a Madrid comprised of Ronaldo, Kaka, Silva, and possibly David Villa and Ribery.

Fans of La Liga will no doubt look forward to Classico battles in seasons to come. 

Stay tuned...