It’s Finally Over

By: Ale | August 6th, 2008

Following a brief meeting with Sir Alex, Ronaldo has finally put an end to the summer-long transfer saga in an interview with Portuguese newspaper Publico to be published tomorrow.

Ronaldo said: ‘Sir Alex Ferguson heard my arguments, I heard his and, in fact, it was settled that the best for both parties would be for me to stay.

‘Therefore, I can confirm that, next season, I will play for Manchester United.

‘Before rumours emerge saying that I will play against my will, I want to make this clear - whoever says or writes that is lying.

‘I will play for Manchester with all my heart and soul. I will fight and honour that shirt with the same commitment and dedication as always.’

Ronaldo has also taken the blame for the transfer saga, which lasted for several months and damaged United’s relationship with Real.

He continued: ‘I was responsible for all this controversy.

‘I was the one who publicly expressed my desire to go to Real Madrid. I ended up being, even involuntarily, responsible for the poor relationship between the two clubs.’

But he repeated that his dream of playing for Real remains and has not closed the door on a future move to the Spanish giants.

He explained: ‘I knew Real Madrid were interested in signing me and that they had allegedly made a very high offer to Manchester United.

‘My desire was, for some time, that Manchester had accepted my transfer to Madrid.

‘Saying otherwise would be to trick people and my own consciousness.’

This isn’t much of a surprise to anyone probably, considering he’s under contract and Real buying Van Der Vaart, but I’m glad it’s over with.

Do you think he’ll feel a fan backlash similar to Adebayor’s situation with Arsenal or is he too important to United for the fans to turn against him?

via Soccernet