Valdano in Ronaldo claim

10 June 2009 17:37
Real Madrid general director Jorge Valdano has revealed that the club are in discussions to sign Cristiano Ronaldo. Just days after securing the services of Kaka for £59million Real are ready to break the bank again to bring the Manchester United winger to the Bernabeu. United are likely to stand firm and try and hold on to their Portuguese ace for a third consecutive summer but a fee of around £76million may be too good to turn down. Ronaldo, who is currently away with the Portugal national squad, has so far remained quiet over his future but new Real president Florentino Perez has made no secret of the fact that he will try and lure the 24-year-old to the Spanish capital. "I can't answer any questions about him," Valdano told TVE. "I can only talk about players who are on their way here, not about those we are in negotiations over. "He is a great professional, he dedicates a very great deal of time to his work. He is a great footballer and a very good professional." Perez is determined to take the club back to the top and he has persistently made a point of looking to build bridges with the English champions after the relationship between the two clubs took a turn for the worst under former president Ramon Calderon. However, Real's continuous courting of Ronaldo is unlikely to go down too well with United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, but Valdano adds that the World Player of the Year is the perfect player for Madrid. "According to the information we have managed to obtain, he is an excellent professional," he explained. "You don't get the player's body he has, which is a footballing advertisement, without working a great deal. "Another thing is that his reputation as an officially good-looking guy, and a social or advertising model, blurs his image a bit. "He is a great footballer." Real have also been linked with another world-class forward in David Villa this past week although while many believe a deal is close to completion Valdano admits that the club will not be paying over the odds for the Spaniard. "He is an excellent striker but he has a prohibitive price," he pointed out. "He is a player who interests us, but only at a reasonable price. "There's a long way to the start of the season and the summer is very long - these comings and goings will be very interesting. "They have written about hundreds of players who dream about coming to Real Madrid and it's logical that one of those will end up in the side."

Source: SKY_Sports