May 2005 Reports in Spain say Real Madrid have made Cristiano Ronaldo a priority signing. The player is non-committal: “Let’s see if United and Real Madrid talk and what happens. I’m at a big club at the moment, but I cannot say what will happen in the future.”
June 2006 Despite signing a new contract the previous November, Ronaldo declares his desire to move to Spain as Real renew their pursuit. “I have told my agent that I am prepared to leave. I want to play for Madrid and dream of doing so,” he says. United issue a statement saying Ronaldo “will be a Manchester United player next season” but the “winking” controversy in Portugal’s World Cup quarter-final win over England that makes him a public enemy intensifies speculation.
July 2006 Made the scapegoat for England’s defeat, Ronaldo says: “I don’t think the conditions exist for me to continue and work normally in Manchester”. He criticises Sir Alex Ferguson: “I don’t have the support of the coach”. But Ferguson refuses point-blank to sell Ronaldo: “You can bet your life on that” - and the manager gets his way.
January 2007 Reports emerge that once again, Real are desperate to make the forward their big summer signing, for up to £50million. Barcelona are also said to be interested. United ban Ronaldo from talking about Real and prepare to offer him a new contract as speculation continues during the winter.
April 2007 Ronaldo signs a five-year, £120,000-a-week deal with United, extinguishing Real’s hopes for another year. Ferguson criticises Real for trying to unsettle the player.
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January 2008 David Gill, the United chief executive, tells Real to forget about Ronaldo: “That interest in Cristiano Ronaldo simply cannot be activated - absolutely no way, whatever the money. We’re a buying club, not a selling club. We have never sold a player that Alex Ferguson wanted to keep. We don’t need to. We extended his [Ronaldo’s] contract last year through to 2012. Everything about him is Manchester United - he’s like George Best or Eric Cantona. You can’t sell players like Cristiano and we are not going to. It wouldn’t make sense.”
May 2008 Ronaldo flirts with Real on the eve of the Champions League final, making it clear in an interview that he still longs to play for them and that he will decide his fate after the game: “I am happy here, but let’s see what happens after the Champions League final. I am feeling calm here. In the future I don’t know.” Moments after United’s win he tells a reporter, “I want to stay”, but later he is much less definitive and reports suggest he will push for a pay increase. At the end of the month, United threaten to report Real to Fifa for their “totally unacceptable” pursuit.
June 2008 Manchester United report Real to Fifa over Cristiano but the world governing body takes no action. Ronaldo confides to friends that he is prepared to do “whatever it takes” to engineer a transfer as Jorge Mendes, the player’s agent, reportedly attempts to broker a deal with Real. “[Moving to Real] is a dream, a step forward,” he said.
July 2008 The player undergoes an ankle operation and misses the start of the season. He invites ridicule when agreeing with comments from Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, that being kept at Old Trafford against his will was a kind of “slavery”. Ferguson insists Ronaldo will not be sold after they meet for talks in Lisbon, but rumours surface that he told the player to remain at the club for another year on the condition that he could then leave the summer after if he still felt the same way.
August 2008 Ronaldo finally pledges to stay for “at least this season”.
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November 2008 Ronaldo’s advisers urge United to offer him a new contract with a pay rise.
December 2008 A Real director claims that a gentlemen’s agreement has been struck between United and Real to conclude a transfer in the close season. A furious Ferguson says that he “wouldn’t sell that mob a virus. There is no agreement.”
January 2009 It is reported in Spain that Ronaldo has reached a verbal agreement to join Real. Claims of a done deal re-emerge.
April 2009 Florentino P?rez, who is on the brink of returning to Real as president, claims that he “will bring Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid”.
May 2009 Ronaldo pledges his future to United on the eve of the Champions League final. “I only care about what will happen next season at Manchester United,” he says. Defeat by Barcelona in Rome and Real’s ambitious spending plans serve only to strengthen his desire to move to Madrid.
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June 8, 2009 United contact Wigan Athletic to inquire about the availability of Antonio Valencia, the Ecuador winger.
June 9, 2009 P?rez declares that Ronaldo will be Real’s next signing after Kak?.
June 10, 2009 Jorge Valdano, the Real director general, says that the club are in negotiations with United to sign Ronaldo. Gill leaves his office and is on his way to Geneva for a Fifa meeting when United receive a fax from Real at 6pm detailing the offer for the Portuguese. Sources at United claim that there was no prior warning from Madrid that a bid would be forthcoming. Gill contacts Ferguson first, then Ronaldo’s camp, before the matter is taken to the Glazer family. The Glazers tell Ferguson that the final decision rests with him and within a couple of hours Gill is given the green light by the manager to sell Ronaldo.
June 11, 2009 United accept £80million bid for Ronaldo.