Perez still has high hopes of Real deal for Ronaldo

REAL MADRID presidential hopeful Florentino Perez has claimed “an agreement” is in place for Cristiano Ronaldo to join the club.

Perez’s comments in the Spanish press are bound to irritate Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson. The Scot firmly believes the Portuguese winger will see out his contract at Old Trafford. But Perez has gain stirred things up between the clubs following United’s defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League final.

He is the overwhelming favourite to return to the post he held from 2000-06 and could be installed as president as early as Monday without the need for elections if no other candidates step forward before May 31.

There had originally been three other candidates who had announced they would be mounting bids. But Eugenio Martinez Bravo, Juan Onieva and Eduardo Garcia have all pulled out of the running in the last fortnight, with the €57.4m bank guarantee seeming to be the big stumbling block. Perez is anxious for Madrid to regain the high ground from Barcelona and questioned about Ronaldo, he said: “He’s also a player that would be very good if he came to Real Madrid. What I know is what I’ve read, that there is an agreement by means of which he would come for £80m.”

Asked if he would pay that amount, Perez said: “Next week we will look at the numbers and nobody should doubt that we are going to design with our sporting advisors a spectacular project.”

Kaka is another name on his wishlist and Perez added: “Until the competitions finish we are not going to talk with the clubs.”