What Will Cristiano Ronaldo Bring to Real Madrid?

What are Real Madrid actually getting for their $131 million once the logistics with Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United are settled?

Will they get the player who scored 91 goals and helped Manchester United to three Premier League titles, a Champions League crown, and a League Cup the past three years? Or will they get the petulant whiner who threw a tantrum after being replaced in the Manchester derby?

Will they get a player who constantly dives and looks to the referee for a call rather than helping his team win the ball back? Or will they get Paris Hilton’s latest squeeze?

The answer is most likely a combination of all of them, along with a lot of shirt sales.

Ronaldo is quickly reaching the celebrity of another former Manchester United Red Devil turned Real Madrid Galactico, David Beckham. Beckham’s fame and disastrous spell at the Los Angeles Galaxy may have forced people to forget that he was actually a pretty good football player in his day.

Although Beckham lacks the mobility and goal-scoring record of Ronaldo, he arrived at the Bernabeu as the England captain and fresh off of winning the 2003 Premier League title.

Comparisons between Ronaldo and Beckham go far beyond their transfers from United to Madrid. Both players wore the famous No. 7 shirt at Old Trafford, and both players had to overcome World Cup incidents before regaining the respect of fans at United and across England.

In the 1998 World Cup, Beckham was sent off during England’s Round of 16 loss to Argentina and was blamed by many for their premature exit from the competition.

Beckham was able bounce back by winning the treble for United the following season, and his heroics as England captain, including scoring a penalty against Argentina in the 2002 World Cup, gave Beckham a newfound place in the hearts of the England supporters.

Ronaldo was involved in quite a different story in the 2006 World Cup, when his Portugal squad saw off England in the quarterfinals. Early in the second half, Ronaldo’s United teammate Wayne Rooney allegedly stomped on Portugal’s Ricardo Carvalho.

Although it is suspected that the referee did not see the incident, Ronaldo got involved and was seen winking at the Portugal bench after Rooney was sent off. Ronaldo eventually scored the winning penalty in that game and was dubbed by the BBC announcers as the “tormentor of England.”

After returning to the Premier League, United fans forgave Ronaldo after Rooney had given him his blessing. The rest of England did not, and their hatred only intensified as he poured in goals from all over the field and continued his antics and crying to the referee.

After his recent transfer, Ronaldo claimed that embraces the role of the villain, saying, “I love it when people jeer me. I love to see the hate in their eyes, to hear the insults.”

Ronaldo has been very critical of Sir Alex Ferguson as well, blaming his tactics for United’s loss to Barcelona in the Champions League final. Although Beckham left Manchester far from good terms with the fiery Scot, he has stated he could not play against United for another team of the Premier League.

Beckham still has friends on United, such as Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, while it is unlikely Ronaldo will leave many pals behind besides Nani.

Ronaldo’s transfer to Madrid will also see him compared to his biggest rival for World Player of the Year, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. The two faced off for the first time in the Champions League final, with Messi finding the net.

The soft-spoken Argentine has rarely shown the attitude of his Portuguese counterpart. Messi has also been able to become part of an integral team passing game at Barca, linking up with the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and Dani Alves.

The team aspect of the game will always be where purists rate Messi higher than Ronaldo, who fired a Premier League-leading 181 shots, which produced 18 goals. Messi, on the other hand, shot only 114 times in La Liga, netting 23 goals, while adding 16 assists in all competitions, compared to just eight for Ronaldo.

These statistics come from different leagues, and now that they will be playing against the same competition week in and week out, the assessments of their game will run rampant.

The next player who Ronaldo will be weighed against will be his new teammate, Kaka. A devout Christian who married his childhood girlfriend, Kaka was nothing but a loyal servant to his old club AC Milan and would not be caught dead partying with the likes of Hilton.

Kaka had been in quite a bind about moving away from the San Siro, with his agent, who also happens to be his father with a differing set of values, pushing for the deal to be signed, while Florentino Perez also had aspirations of using Kaka as the symbol of his new Presidency.

Despite all the rumors and people with aspirations for him, Kaka signed the deal without much fanfare, instead deciding to concentrate on the more important task, World Cup qualifying and the FIFA Confederations Cup.

After helping Brazil take a massive step towards qualification for South Africa 2010 with victories over Uruguay and Paraguay, the 2002 World Cup winner has helped Brazil win each of their first two matches in the Confederations Cup, scoring three goals in the process.

Kaka’s decision to concentrate on international football is an honorable one, especially considering Ronaldo forced his Portugal teammates to answer hundreds of questions about his move at Euro 2008.

In the end, Ronaldo ended up staying at United, hence wasting his own time and energy on something that was clearly hurting his play. Portugal ultimately were eliminated in the quarterfinals, with Ronaldo managing only one goal along the way.

In addition to refusing to talk about Madrid until after his international obligations, Kaka has paid nothing but homage to his old club, saying, "The only reason I'm recognized as an international player is because of Milan. I hope Milan can keep doing well." Kaka is known to be a friend and supporter of new Milan boss Leonardo, as well as friends and compatriots such as Alexandre Pato.

Ronaldo’s late night escapades will certainly be frowned upon by Kaka, who has looked down on Milan teammate Ronaldinho’s partying lifestyle. On the field, the way Ronaldo gels with Kaka will be imperative, but he will also have to link up with Real Madrid captain and icon Raul.

Raul is said to have the ear of the executives at Madrid and is known to have been frustrated when some of Real’s massive Dutch settlement would not pass him the ball. Will he have the same reaction when Ronaldo shoots from 40 yards rather than slipping him a through ball?

What will happen when Real are awarded a penalty and all of their major stars insist on taking it? If David Villa joins Ronaldo and Kaka, Raul may find himself on the bench more, something he will not do quietly.

The coach who must manage all of this, Manuel Pellegrini, is accustomed to spoiled superstars and has no problem imposing his authority, as seen with the banishment of Juan Roman Riquelme at Villareal.

At Madrid, Pellegrini will have more on his plate, by keeping Ronaldo, Raul, Gonzalo Higuain, Guti, and whatever part of the contingent are left (if any), as well as any other signings Madrid make.

It is hard to say what kind of impact Ronaldo will have at Madrid, but two things are for sure: Madrid cannot win anything without securing their backline, and no matter what happens, the circus will be fun to watch.