BYE BYE RONALDO!

[Dan.M]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 42,00.html

United accepted £80m

[BWFC_Insane]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528, ... 42,00.html

United accepted £80m

Good riddance.

[BWFC_Wyles]

F**kin ludicrous amount of money.

United will be better without him as they'll go and buy Ribery for £65m now....

[keveh]

Who's this Ronaldo guy, is he meant to be any good?

[David Lee's Hair]

[KeeeeeeeBaaaaaaab]

So much for not even "selling that mob a virus", eh, Fergie?

[Hoboh]

Davo's going for 90 now!!!

[blurred]

United will be better without him

Disagree completely.

[BWFC_Insane]

United will be better without him

Disagree completely.

All depends who they buy doesn't it?

[H. Pedersen]

United will be better without him

Disagree completely.

Well they've got a lot of rebuilding to do, now they've got the money to do it. In addition to replacing Ronaldo they need to replace Tevez and maybe Giggs, Scholes, and Neville if Ferguson doesn't think Nani, Anderson, and Rafael are ready yet. It's really going to blow the title race wide open but I don't think Benitez will have the money (or, frankly, the acumen) to capitalize. Chelsea look like a good bet in that environment but you never know how a new manager will work out.

[TANGODANCER]

F**kin ludicrous amount of money.

United will be better without him as they'll go and buy Ribery for £65m now....

According to Ribery England is no better than Germany for weather, so he won't come here. Seems it's not about money, but weather. Wonder how much it'll take to warm him up enough?

[eddybwfc]

So, Ronaldo costs the same as Newcastle Utd...

[H. Pedersen]

So, Ronaldo costs the same as Newcastle Utd...

If I could choose between Ronaldo or all of Newcastle's players . . . I'd pick Ronaldo.

[blurred]

United will be better without him

Disagree completely.

All depends who they buy doesn't it?

Not all of that money will go back into team investment, no way. He was probably their highest earner and even if they bring someone else in on big bucks they won't match the deal that Ronaldo would've had, so that'll free up a little more cash for them. Glazer will be wanting his hands on some of that for his interest payments, but it's fair to say United will have a decent amount of that Ronaldo cash to spend. Let's not forget that United are in even bigger financial shit than Liverpool are, and have had over £300m of interest payments since the Glazers took over, there's no way that's all getting spunked on a new squad.

A big chunk of that Ronaldo fee will now likely go on Tevez (or his replacement), and it's expected that another, even bigger chunk will go on Ribery. You're talking in excess of £50m spent there, with signing on fees and contracts and shit it'll probably be closer to £55m-£60m, if not more, which is pretty much their whole budget for the summer, including outgoings. Which means that United will be looking at a straight swap of Ronaldo for Ribery, and will be keeping Tevez (probably), which I think makes them a weaker side than last year. Particularly when you bear in mind they really need to replace Giggs and Scholes, Hargreaves is crocked until well into the season, and several of their big-money players last year looked average to poor (Nani, Anderson, I'm looking at you two for starters), there's a lot of work to be done at Old Trafford.

Ribery's a class player, true enough, but Ronaldo is irreplaceable in the true sense of the word. He was a monster player for them over the past 3/4 years, and they'll not find someone to actually replace him. Barcelona could get £100m for Messi, but do you think that they'd actually be able to find someone who gives them what he does?

[BWFC_Insane]

United will be better without him

Disagree completely.

All depends who they buy doesn't it?

Not all of that money will go back into team investment, no way. He was probably their highest earner and even if they bring someone else in on big bucks they won't match the deal that Ronaldo would've had, so that'll free up a little more cash for them. Glazer will be wanting his hands on some of that for his interest payments, but it's fair to say United will have a decent amount of that Ronaldo cash to spend. Let's not forget that United are in even bigger financial shit than Liverpool are, and have had over £300m of interest payments since the Glazers took over, there's no way that's all getting spunked on a new squad.

A big chunk of that Ronaldo fee will now likely go on Tevez (or his replacement), and it's expected that another, even bigger chunk will go on Ribery. You're talking in excess of £50m spent there, with signing on fees and contracts and shit it'll probably be closer to £55m-£60m, if not more, which is pretty much their whole budget for the summer, including outgoings. Which means that United will be looking at a straight swap of Ronaldo for Ribery, and will be keeping Tevez (probably), which I think makes them a weaker side than last year. Particularly when you bear in mind they really need to replace Giggs and Scholes, Hargreaves is crocked until well into the season, and several of their big-money players last year looked average to poor (Nani, Anderson, I'm looking at you two for starters), there's a lot of work to be done at Old Trafford.

Ribery's a class player, true enough, but Ronaldo is irreplaceable in the true sense of the word. He was a monster player for them over the past 3/4 years, and they'll not find someone to actually replace him. Barcelona could get £100m for Messi, but do you think that they'd actually be able to find someone who gives them what he does?

You are probably right on the financials.

All depends on how much of a fuss Fergie makes.

IF they spend 80M well they COULD end up better off without him. But depends on Fergie making the right choices.

Mind I wouldn't back against him would you?

[eddybwfc]

So, Ronaldo costs the same as Newcastle Utd...

If I could choose between Ronaldo or all of Newcastle's players . . . I'd pick Ronaldo.

Ashley is selling up for 100mil

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

So, Ronaldo costs the same as Newcastle Utd...

If I could choose between Ronaldo or all of Newcastle's players . . . I'd pick Ronaldo.

Ashley is selling up for 100mil

He's deluded and a shit player

[blurred]

You are probably right on the financials.

All depends on how much of a fuss Fergie makes.

IF they spend 80M well they COULD end up better off without him. But depends on Fergie making the right choices.

Mind I wouldn't back against him would you?

Could and will are two very different things.

In the past couple two years he's spent over £10m on a handful of players, only one of whom (Hargreaves) could qualify as a definite success. Unfortunately his knees are made of play-dough, and so he's unlikely to feature much next season and has only managed something like 23 starts since he joined them, so even his decent performances might not count as a resounding success, because of his injuries. Ferguson has spunked over £70m on Berbatov, Nani, Anderson and the two kids from Serbia. Is that money well spent? Berbatov may still come good, but for £30m+ you'd've expected a hell of a lot more than he delivered in 08/09.

He's also got to replace Giggs and Scholes this summer, who are pretty much completely past it, as well as Ronaldo, and possibly Tevez. His transfer record is hit and miss, as all managers' are. The Da Silva twins look a reasonably good bargain, and Carrick's performed well for them, but they've got something of an overhaul to perform this summer which he's not had for a while, when comparing it to 04/05 when he only topped up with a big purchase of only Wayne Rooney, or 06/07 when he splashed out on only Michael Carrick.

Look back to the last major squad building that he had to do when he had some serious cash (back in 03/04 when Veron and Beckham left for a combined £40m or so), and who did he get to replace them? David Bellion, Eric Djemba Djemba, Kleberson, Alan Smith, Dong Fangzhou and Liam Miller. Fortunately for them, he was able to spend some cash on Ronaldo that summer (£13m or so for a teenager), which turned out pretty well in the long run, but that wasn't exactly his finest summer. And he's got similar work to do this year. It's a big, big summer for them (as it is for Liverpool, too), especially now Ronaldo's gone.

[TANGODANCER]

All any of this actually proves is that money is power. 80 million is a totally ridiculous figure to pay for a footballer and just shows that, if money appears on the scene, footballers will follow the yellow brick road regardless of all else. This comes across more-so reading how agents claim so-and-so has always wanted to play in the Premiership because of how good a player he is blah,blah. City, at best a top ten side, are suddenly attracting top players purely because the place is a gold mine. The same people who have always wanted etc, would leave at the drop of a hat if a better deal came along. Nobody can blame anyone else for the opportunity to become an overnight millionaire, but it's a sad reflection on what was once a sport of loyalty, pride and identity with your home area.

One day, maybe, somebody will redress the whole situation re sport.....maybe.

[Hoboh]

United will be better without him

Disagree completely.

All depends who they buy doesn't it?

Not all of that money will go back into team investment, no way. He was probably their highest earner and even if they bring someone else in on big bucks they won't match the deal that Ronaldo would've had, so that'll free up a little more cash for them. Glazer will be wanting his hands on some of that for his interest payments, but it's fair to say United will have a decent amount of that Ronaldo cash to spend. Let's not forget that United are in even bigger financial shit than Liverpool are, and have had over £300m of interest payments since the Glazers took over, there's no way that's all getting spunked on a new squad.

A big chunk of that Ronaldo fee will now likely go on Tevez (or his replacement), and it's expected that another, even bigger chunk will go on Ribery. You're talking in excess of £50m spent there, with signing on fees and contracts and shit it'll probably be closer to £55m-£60m, if not more, which is pretty much their whole budget for the summer, including outgoings. Which means that United will be looking at a straight swap of Ronaldo for Ribery, and will be keeping Tevez (probably), which I think makes them a weaker side than last year. Particularly when you bear in mind they really need to replace Giggs and Scholes, Hargreaves is crocked until well into the season, and several of their big-money players last year looked average to poor (Nani, Anderson, I'm looking at you two for starters), there's a lot of work to be done at Old Trafford.

Ribery's a class player, true enough, but Ronaldo is irreplaceable in the true sense of the word. He was a monster player for them over the past 3/4 years, and they'll not find someone to actually replace him. Barcelona could get £100m for Messi, but do you think that they'd actually be able to find someone who gives them what he does?

You are joking mate Manure is a cash cow more than capable of repaying its debts unlike most other teams any where in the world of football.
The only other clubs I can think of over here with no worries are City and Chelski.