Manchester United Accepts £80m Ronaldo Bid

Well it has finally happened.

Manchester United has accepted a world-record offer of £80m from Real Madrid for Cristiano Ronaldo.

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“Manchester United has received a world-record, unconditional offer of £80million for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid. At Cristiano’s request—who has again expressed his desire to leave—and after discussion with the player’s representatives, United has agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player. Matters are expected to be concluded by June 30. The club will not comment until further notice.”

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There had been reports that Madrid would have to pay a £26m penalty clause to Ronaldo as a consequence of an alleged “pre-contract” arrangement that had been agreed with the player’s representative Jorge Mendes, if the Spanish club did not sign him this summer.

British newspaper reports said that the transfer fee would be made available for United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to invest in the transfer market.

Combined with the usual £20-30m that United spends each season, that would mean that Fergie will have over £100m to strengthen his squad this offseason.

Expect big name signings with Franck Ribery (£50m from Bayern Munich), Carlos Tevez (£25m) and Antonio Valencia (£10m from Wigan) expected to eat up most of that transfer budget.

It has been a huge week for Madrid with the signings of Kaka (£62m) and now Ronaldo (£80m).

With Barcelona winning the Champions League last month and now Real Madrid buying two of the three best players in the world within a week, has the balance of power in Europe switched from the Premier League to La Liga?

I believe that Kaka and Ronaldo's first games for Madrid will be in Toronto on August 7th and in Washington on August 9th.