United finalise €94m Ronaldo Real deal

REAL MADRID and Manchester United last night finalised an agreement for the £80million (€94m) transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo to the Spanish club.

United confirmed earlier this month they had accepted a world-record bid from the Primera Division side.

A statement on Madrid’s website, www.realmadrid.com, last night read: “Real Madrid and Manchester United have signed a final agreement for the transfer of the rights of Cristiano Ronaldo from July 1.

“The player will be tied to Real Madrid for the next six seasons and will be presented on July 6 at the Santiago Bernabeu.”

The Portugal superstar came close to joining Madrid last summer before Alex Ferguson convinced him to stay at Old Trafford.

But Ramon Calderon, who was president of Madrid at the time, claimed this month a “gentleman’s agreement” existed over the signing before he left the Spanish giants in January.

Nevertheless, Ronaldo becomes the latest signing in Florentino Perez’s Madrid revolution. Perez, who was responsible for bringing the likes of Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham and Luis Figo to the Bernabeu in his first stint as president, has already taken Brazil star Kaka from AC Milan and Spain international Raul Albiol from Valencia.