Video Games Coming to Life: Cristiano Ronaldo Joins Real Madrid for £80 Million

When I clicked my way through the sports news on the Internet this morning, it all seemed very unreal.

I checked three times when reading one of the millions of articles about the Cristiano Ronaldo deal to make sure I was not playing my computer game, FIFA Manager '08.

We are in a global recession; an economic crisis. All the financial analysts involved in football were saying that no club will be spending big in the summer, and that transfer fees will not reach the height they once were at.

Now I'm sure you've all forgotten, but Kaka signed for Real Madrid in a £59 million deal, which was a world-record transfer fee. And believe it or not, this was actually only a few days ago.

Transfer fees this summer, albeit just the fees by one club, have not only broken a world-record deal once, but twice.

But anyway, my point is, to some of us computer geeks, it simply feels like we're playing our favourite football manager game again.

Suddenly I've decided I'm going to manage Real Madrid as my first managerial job, even though I have not been a manager before.

Then, because I have loads of money in the bank, I'm going to sign loads of really good players.

I know, I'll start with Kaka. Some other mug of a team tried to sign him for £100 million, but they were turned down.

Then I come in, offer £59M for the playmaker, and Milan accept it. Then, when the contract negotiation comes around, I'll give him loads of money, give his agent 20 percent of the fee, and tell him he'll be the next captain.

And then it comes up with that headline in Media World, '(insert team name) REAL MADRID sign (insert player name) KAKA for (insert fee) £80 million.'

Now, I want another one. I know, Cristiano Ronaldo! He's got good stats, I'll get him in as well.

So I just click on the OFFER TRANSFER FEE tab, and slide the bar up to its maximum, which is some ridiculous fee, like £80 million, and click SUBMIT BID.

Of course Manchester United will accept it, and their Chief Executive (who is called JOHN SMITH on the game) wants to "hammer out a deal" for Ronaldo "as quickly as possible."

And then, as with Kaka, I offer the Portuguese winger loads of money, give his agent (who also happens to be called JOHN SMITH) 20 percent of the fee and then tell him that he will be the next captain too.

That will obviously mean one of them won't be captain. Actually, both of them won't, because their leadership stats won't be great, but oh well. What's 10 morale points worth anyway?

Then they both sign for the club, and as with every player I sign (even when I sign some 40-year old guy from Accrington Stanley, with a rating of 15/100, just for the fun of it), the Assistant Manager (who, would you know, is actually called JOHN SMITH) says to me, "Wow, great signing! Where did you manage to find such a fantastic talent like that?!"

And once they've been officially confirmed as Real Madrid players, along my £10,000 signing from Accrington Stanley, they're assigned by the game the shirt numbers: 97, 98 and 99.

So as you can clearly see, this game situation from my daily play today of FIFA Manager 08, is not that far off from reality.

Well, at least the transfer fees are the same aren't they? Apart from that guy from Accrington Stanley (who is a simulated player, and coincidentally is called, JOHN SMITH).

In reality, he'll be unveiled as a Real Madrid player early next week, for a world-record fee of £130 million.

Well, if the Ronaldo and Kaka fees were the same on the game as in real-life, then what chance would I really have of being wrong, eh?

Trust me, don't be surprised when JOHN SMITH is unveiled as a Galactico in front of the world media next week.

Because after all, Real Madrid have clearly shown that videogames and reality can in fact go hand-in-hand.