We’re already in the middle of June, and though the signings haven’t been coming hard and fast just yet, that doesn’t mean that there’s a shortage of action thus far in the summer transfer window.

In this morning’s transfer news and rumors roundup, we’ve got tidbits from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and Greece, with many big names and big clubs looking to spend, spend, spend. Some of the rumors are pretty concrete, while there is at least one in the bunch that, like Manchester United being linked with a move for Fernando Torres, are a little head-scratching, to say the least.

There are also a couple of signings to report, and remember, to keep up with all of the latest confirmed signings, check out our summer 2009 transfer lists.

England

Manchester United After Valencia Stars

There has been a great deal of speculation over the last few days about what Manchester United are going to do with the money they get from selling Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, and it could be that a sizable chunk of those funds go towards signing Valencia stars David Villa and David Silva.

United are reportedly set to make a £45m bid for Villa (The Mirror). The competition could wide open between United, Barcelona (Sky Sports), and Chelsea for Villa, as his potential move to Real Madrid appears to have broken down (Daily Mail).

Meanwhile. Rafa Benitez might not like hearing about United making a concerted effort to land Silva, as the winger has been a target for Benitez for a while now but could be the subject of a £25m bid from United. (The Mirror)

Analysis: £25m looks to certainly be enough to land Silva, but even though they could outbid Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Chelsea for Villa, they could be out of luck if Villa prefers the chance to stay in Spain. Of course, if Barcelona land Villa, that’d all but free up the opportunity for a United move for Samuel Eto’o.

United and Boro In Downing Swap Deal?

Middlesbrough are heavily interested in Manchester United duo Paul Scholes and Gary Neville, and there are reports that they could offer Stewart Downing to United to try to make a deal happen. (The Mirror)

Analysis: Both Scholes and Neville could be reluctant for such a move, but even so, it’d seem like United would come out a lot better in this deal, especially if they didn’t have to spend much of that sizable transfer kitty on purchasing Downing.

Costa On Shortlist To Replace Ronaldo?

Along with the moves mentioned above, United could be set to swoop for Gremio starlet Douglas Costa. (Sky Sports)

Analysis: Brazil’s becoming more and more of a hotspot for United, and signing a prospect of Costa’s ability and potential would be worth the fee United may have to stump up. He’s only 18, so he’s more one for the future and wouldn’t be expected to step in and star right away. But as Ronaldo did when he arrived at United, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him earn first-team opportunities immediately.

Bolton Lead Race For Veloso?

Bolton are back in for Sporting Lisbon midfielder Miguel Veloso, and after refusing to overbid for Veloso in January, could be in with a £10.2m offer for the 23-year-old, who’s also been linked with Arsenal. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: £10.2m is still a little lower than Sporting might like to get for Veloso, but it could be a sign that Bolton are willing to fork out a little more in order to land him.

Bentley And Huddlestone To Sign For Villa?

It could only be a matter of time before Aston Villa seal the deal on a couple of new signings, as there are reports that they are close on Tottenham pair David Bentley (Goal.com) and Tom Huddlestone (Birmingham Mail).

Analysis: Considering their interest in Bentley, Huddlestone, and Jermaine Jenas, I’m surprised they haven’t been strongly linked with Darren Bent or Roman Pavlyuchenko, considering a forward should also be on their summer wishlist.

Several Sides Interested In Newcastle’s Martins

Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Everton are all interested in Newcastle striker Obafemi Martins (Tribal Football), but they could face competition from a mystery Bundesliga club (Tribal Football).

Analysis: Everton would be a great fit, considering the familiar faces that would await, but wages would likely be a stumbling block, and that could also be the case with Aston Villa. No telling what the situation could be with the Bundesliga club, but Arsenal may well be the best match financially – but that could all hinge on whether or not they sell Emmanuel Adebayor.

Fulham And West Ham Interested In Acquafresca

It’s a London battle for young Italian striker Robert Acquafresca, as Fulham and West Ham are both interested in the 21-year-old. Acquafresca was supposed to go to Genoa as part of the deal that brought Diego Milito and Thiago Motta to Inter, but he could yet move elsewhere, with even Juventus being linked with a move. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: I don’t have any doubts that Acquafresca could succeed in the Premier League, but if Juventus come in for him, that might be an opportunity that’s too hard to pass up.

Sunderland Bid For Cattermole

Sunderland have made a £7m bid for Wigan midfielder Lee Cattermole. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: Well they sure aren’t sitting on their money, are they? That’s certainly a tempting offer for Wigan, considering it’s double what they paid for Cattermole just last summer. I don’t know if Wigan will offload him right now though, unless he’s just that eager to be reunited with Steve Bruce. If someone’s willing to pay 7m for him right now, they could be in line to get a lot more if he continues to develop well over the next season or two. Besides, the sale of Antonio Valencia will net a nice amount of transfer funds for Roberto Martinez.

Wolves Sign Milijas

Wolves have completed the signing of Red Star Belgrade midfielder Nenad Milijas. (The Guardian)

Analysis: For a little while, the deal looked to be in some doubt, but in the end, Wolves fought off some pretty good competition to land the free-scoring midfielder.

Birmingham Bid For Gomez

Birmingham have made a £1.5m offer to Espanyol for midfielder Jordi Gomez, who starred on loan for Swansea last season. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: With Roberto Martinez set to complete his move from Swansea to Wigan anytime now, Birmingham could face some competition from Wigan for Gomez, so it might be in Birmingham’s best interests to try to get him signed, sealed, and delivered as soon as possible.

Spain

Real Madrid Offer Sneijder For Inter’s Maicon

Real Madrid could be set to offer Inter Milan €20m plus attacker Wesley Sneijder in a bid for right back Maicon. (Goal.com)

Analysis: Sounds like a reasonable deal. Sneijder’s someone that has been linked with Inter, and €20m + Sneijder would meet the €40m asking price that Inter have for Maicon.

Italy

AC Milan Sign Cissokho

AC Milan have completed the signing of Porto defender Aly Cissokho for €15m. (Sky Sports)

Analysis: This time last summer, Cissokho had just made the jump from France’s Ligue 2 to Portugal, joining Vitoria du Setubal, and now, he’s signed for AC Milan. Talk about a quick rise!

Inter Closing In On Double Swoop

Jose Mourinho could be close to being reunited with Deco and Ricardo Carvalho, as Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti spoke hopefully about being able to agree a deal with Chelsea for the duo. (Daily Mail)

Analysis: Seems to be only a formality, really.

Juventus To Swap Trezeguet For Rossi?

Juventus are prepared to offer striker David Trezeguet as part of a swap deal for Villarreal star Giuseppe Rossi. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: £15m + Trezeguet would fall a little short of Rossi’s buyout clause of £40m, but it could get Villarreal to bite, or at least think seriously about the offer. Trezeguet might turn down the chance though, considering the interest that he’s had from the likes of Inter, Real Madrid, and others.

Lazio In Talks For Barnetta

Lazio are in talks with Bayer Leverkusen over a move for Swiss midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: Barnetta’s valuation is reportedly €10m, but even though Lazio don’t exactly have the room to break the bank on summer purchases, it shouldn’t be a problem to spend the right amount on a player who’s certainly worth it.

Germany

Wolfsburg Want Berbatov?

In one of the more interesting transfer rumors of the day, Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov is being linked with a loan move to VfL Wolfsburg. (Sofia Echo)

Analysis: Though things didn’t exactly go completely swimmingly at United last season, Berbatov’s not going anywhere.

Stuttgart Interested In Tottenham Striker

VfB Stuttgart could be targeting Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko. According to Stuttgart general manager Horst Heldt, the Russian striker has come up in discussions within the club. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: After selling Mario Gomez to Bayern Munich for €30m, Stuttgart have money to spend and a big void to fill up front. Replicating Gomez’s 33-goal output from this past season might be a little much to ask, but Pavlyuchenko does have the quality to succeed in the Bundesliga, even though his struggles at Tottenham last season might convince some otherwise.

France

Shevchenko Offered To French Trio

Chelsea have offered striker Andriy Shevchenko to Lyon, Marseille, and Monaco. Lyon have turned down the opportunity to sign the Ukrainian, but Marseille and Monaco are still considering the chance to snap him up. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: Safe to say then that Sheva doesn’t have a future at Chelsea, eh?

Coupet To Sign For PSG

Former Lyon goalkeeper Gregory Coupet could be set for a quick return to Ligue 1, as he has agreed personal terms over a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Coupet moved from Lyon to Atletico Madrid last summer, but after seeing little time last season, will be back on familiar soil if a fee can be agreed. (Goal.com)

Analysis: With current #1 Mickael Landreau looking to leave, PSG needed to swoop for a quality replacement, and Coupet, with his long history of success with Lyon, certainly fits the bill.

Greece

Panathinaikos Close On Drenthe?

Panathinaikos are going all out in their efforts to sign Real Madrid’s Royston Drenthe, as they could offer £11m in order to land the versatile Dutchman. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: That’s about the same amount Real spent to sign Drenthe from Feyenoord in the summer of 2007, so I don’t see them turning down an offer of that amount. Drenthe hasn’t exactly blossomed at Real, and he wouldn’t appear to have much of a future there, so the only holdup might be whether or not he wants to move to Greece or to a more elite league.

“Transfer Rumors (15 June 09): Man United after Valencia stars Villa and Silva, Aston Villa close on Tottenham duo, Berbatov and Pavlyuchenko linked with Bundesliga moves, and more” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.

The biggest news in the football world is still the impending sale of Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for a world-record £80m.

However, in this morning’s transfer roundup, you won’t find any Ronaldo-related news, though there is a mention of someone that Manchester United could go after with the money they’re set to soon receive from Real.

Who is else in the transfer pages? The tidbits are light this morning, but there’s more than enough to keep you tided over until the next time around. Let’s hop on the transfer train, shall we?

England

Liverpool Step Up Johnson Hunt

Liverpool will step up their efforts to pip Chelsea to the signing of Portsmouth right back Glen Johnson. (Daily Mail)

Analysis: I think Chelsea are still the team to beat for Johnson, but if Liverpool don’t land him, it won’t be for a lack of trying.

Manchester City Chase Forlan And Lescott

Manchester City are stepping up their efforts to land Diego Forlan and Joleon Lescott. They are set to send a delegation to Spain to push through a 20m deal, while they’re also hoping to persuade Everton to part with Lescott. (The Mirror)

Analysis: Forlan’s well within their reach, though they might have to trump up a little more than £20m to land him. On the other hand, I don’t see Everton taking the money and letting Lescott go, but I could be wrong.

Sunderland To Bid For Keane

Sunderland are plotting an audacious £15m bid for Tottenham striker Robbie Keane. (The Mirror)

Analysis: That’s a nice sum of money, but of the many names that will be leaving Tottenham this summer, I don’t foresee him being one of them.

Tottenham Want Aston Villa’s Carew

Tottenham are interested in Aston Villa striker John Carew, and the Norway international could be (Daily Mail)

Analysis: As much as Carew’s been linked with a move away from Villa, I think he’s one of the last players they should consider selling. There have been reported issues in regards to attitude, but he was their most consistent producer last season, and if not for a few key goals from him, their slump through the last few months of the season could’ve been all the more unsightly.

Dann’s The Man For Birmingham

Birmingham have completed the signing of Coventry defender Scott Dann. (Daily Mail)

Analysis: The word was that Dann preferred Wolves to Birmingham, and it’s pretty unfortunate for Wolves to lose out on him, because as I’ve stated before, the back line should be their priority this summer ahead of next season.

Spain

Atletico Open Door To Aguero Sale

Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo says that the club will open talks over forward Sergio Aguero if an ‘interesting offer’ comes in for the Argentine star, who has been linked with Chelsea and could potentially be a target for Manchester United. (Sky Sports)

Analysis: With the money that Sir Alex Ferguson will have at his disposal, Aguero should be one of the names at the top of his list. Whether or not he’d move for him, given an asking price that could be upwards of £50m, is another story.

Barcelona Offer Eto’o For Mascherano

Barcelona have offered striker Samuel Eto’o to tempt Liverpool to part with midfielder Javier Mascherano. (The Mirror)

Analysis: Tempting offer, especially because Liverpool could use a striker like Eto’o, but it’s not a deal that needs to come at the price of selling someone as influential as Mascherano.

Atletico Madrid Plan Sneijder Swoop

Atletico Madrid are planning to raid city rivals Real for midfielder Wesley Sneijder. The Dutchman could be set to leave the club this summer, and he’s also been linked with Bayern Munich, Tottenham, and Inter Milan. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: With Maxi Rodriguez being linked with a move to Tottenham, Atletico could be in need of someone to replace his production in attack, and Sneijder, while likely costing more than what they’d receive in any sale of Rodriguez, would be a more than capable replacement, provided fitness doesn’t become an issue.

“Transfer Rumors (13 Jun 09): Barcelona offer Eto’o as bait for Liverpool’s Mascherano, Atletico Madrid open to selling Chelsea target Aguero, Sunderland plan audacious bid for Tottenham’s Keane, and more” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.

Where would we all be without the UK Press? An even better question is what am I doing adding even more print to the already exhausted saga of the world record transfer of the greatest narcissist in the history of football?

Ronaldo must be positively unbearable, flouncing around in LA with the world media spotlight on him. It’s what he craves and lives by and what defines him as the shallow and conceited individual that he is.

And could our wildest dreams come through….that he fails his medical due to an STD picked-up from Paris Hilton, whom he reportedly cavorted with last night, returning to her sister’s house in the early hours from an elite LA nightclub.

Now there’s a woman who appreciates diving to the fullest, adores a good wink and is reportedly a screamer on a par with Ronaldo’s finish against Porto in the CL quarter final. “Take it out of that,” was her likely request as dawn broke over LA today.

But no! That would be a nightmare! As a Utd fan the last thing I need is for this deal to fail.

But back to the UK Press! Exhaustive coverage has been extended for the reader interested in the subject and who wants to be able to show his/her worth in the Friday night debate at the pub.

So if you are one of those, and in the interest of saving you time, here are the facts distilled into one simple (very) article.

When the Deal was Done.
A year ago, The Guardian tells us but a bit further down changes its mind to last September. The Times tells us that there was ‘no warning’ from Real about their bid. The Mail on the other hand is totally confused. Depending on where you want to look in their analysis the deal was struck ‘before Christmas’, ‘in the winter’ or ‘last summer’ (according to Calderon). Talk about blowing hot and cold!

The Mirror insists that the first contact in relation to the deal was ‘this week’ but The Record disagrees. The deal was done ‘last year’ according to them.

Agreeing the Deal
The deal was tied up in 15 minutes on Wednesday in a phone call by Perez to Gill, says The Guardian.
The Times suggests that it took 2 hours and involved a fax from Real to Gill, a call from Gill to Fergie, to get his approval, and a further call to the Glazers for the final seal of approval.

However, the version in The Mirror and The Record tell us that the pecking order was a phone call by Gill to the Glazers and THEN to Fergie (no timeframe suggested in either case).

The Fee
No conflict on this one, definitely 80M. 4 x 20M annual installments The Times tells us but if you read The Mail you’ll know that it’s a one-off up-front payment!

The Salary (all amounts in UK Pounds)
The Guardian: 6.8M/year + add-ons.
The Times: 9.5M/year, rising by 25% a year over the 6 year contract to a ‘staggering’ (their word not mine) 29M/year.
The Express: 10M/year
The Mail: 10.4M/year
The Mirror: 18M/year (bloddy glory hunters!)
The Record: 9.5M/year + 25% increase each year for 6 years (lazy journalism there…they just read The Times!)

The Timing
By the end of June (various).
‘Ronaldo expected to arrive in Spain in the next few days,’ says The Guardian.
‘Will complete the deal today,’ according to The Record, or ‘Real are sending a medical team to LA,’ (The Telegraph), possibly to do a Paris Hilton-ectomy, but that has not been confirmed.

Fergie’s Transfer Targets
Good unanimity on most of the names but that’s where it ends I’m afraid.

Ribery
‘Would prefer Spain’ (The Guardian).
It’s not him, The Mail explains, it’s his wife who wants a warmer climate. (“Bugger winning the CL, I want a sun tan!”…..that’s me talking by the way, not The Mail. God forbid they’d get a sense of humour!)

But hang onto your wallet! 64M says The Times, 50M (The Express), and 65M from The Mail (just to trump those upstarts at The Times).

Benzema
68M is The Guardian’s bid but they then suggest that he’d go for ‘half of that’. After all, what’s 34m between friends?

The Times bid 42M while The Express, The Mail and The Sun all agree on 25M (cheapskates). The Mirror ups the ante to a more plausible 30M (he is only 21 after all!).

Valencia
17M from The Guardian, 22M say The Express, 16M from The Mail. The Mirror journalist (obviously a Wigan fan) weighs in at 23M!

But…Stop The Press!!….The Sun have the scoop!….the deal is already done for 17M.

Now if only the others read The Sun first before making their numbers up………………or maybe The Guardian did!

Others
The Mail suggests Yaya Toure and The Sun go with Fabiano. It’s easy enough to picture how those ones came about:

Bored journalist pissed-off that everyone is mentioning Ribery, Benzema and Valancia. How about something original he thinks! Leans over to the next desk and asks: “Hey Bob, if you had 20M to spend as a manager, bearing in mind you being a Wimbledon err sorry…MK Dons fan, who would you spend it on?” Bob scratches an itch and quickly comes-up with Toure/Fabiano. Job done! Now there’s an original thought none of the others will come up with!

How Much Has Fergie to Spend?
The Express, The Star and The Sun all conclude that he has 80M in the transfer kitty. You can only surmise that extensive investigative journalism led to that conclusion in all cases!

However, The Mail has the inside track on this one!
‘Exclusive!’ they declare, ‘Fergie given 100M to burn.’ Yes, I joke you not…the man’s gonna burn the bloody loot! They go on to explain that it comes about from the 80M Ronaldo deal plus the 20M he already had approved. Now that’s investigative journalism…and then some!

So there you have it. You are now armed with the facts and won’t be caught napping at the pub tonight.
And just to cover you even more here are a few more things you’ll need to be up to speed on:

‘It’s a great deal for United’ or ‘This is a disaster for United.’

‘Fergie needs to bring in a right winger to replace him’ or ‘Fergie needs at least 2 world class players to replace him’ or ’Fergie needs to completely rebuild’.

And don’t forget what The Guardian has told you: ‘Devastating blow to Utd and a deal the fans have been dreading’. Trust me, every comment I have read from Utd fans supports that!

Also remember that The Times have warned of ‘Utd fighting-off an exodus.’
Tevez may leave and Vidic is of interest to both Barca and Real! Bloody hell, now that’s an exclusive if ever I saw one….exodus indeed!

Away you go then and don’t make a mug of yourself. I’ve saved you hours of reading and left you at the cutting edge in terms of owning the facts of this matter.

You gotta love the UK Press!

“The Ronaldo Deal: As Explained By The UK Press” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.

Last summer, we heard numerous reports that Ronaldo was to move to Madrid. A deal was in place. It was definite. It was going to happen next week. But then, there was some delay; and the deal would go through the week after that. It never did. No matter for the Spanish press, as they continued to rinse and repeat the story. This is how my summer went.

Then, somewhere in between Calderon telling Rafael Nadal the deal was done and FIFA president Sepp Blatter comparing Ronaldo’s situation to a slave (Yep, this is the guy who is in charge of everything) the only worthwhile piece of news came to my attention. Fergie went on his rant about how he would never ‘sell that mob a virus’.

That was all I needed to know, nothing else mattered. I knew from that point on, Ronaldo was staying. I hardly gave another ‘ Ronaldo to Madrid breaking news report’ my attention again, no matter how intense the rumors, or how foolish I was dubbed by others.

Fast-forward to this summer. More of the same stories. Funny how they all originated from Madrid. Again, I paid little attention to the Spanish press as they had lost all validity in my eyes. I figured it was going to be another summer of ‘will he, won’t he?’ malarkey. However, I was always waiting for either David Gill or Sir Alex to come out and deny these new claims as they had done the previous summer. This never happened. I should have known this was a sign, as the news became official yesterday morning. Goodbye Cristiano, and thanks for the memories.

Why, hello there, £80 million.

Now, we need to figure out who to spend it on. There is no player in the world who can replace Ronaldo, so there will have to be at least two signings. Frank Ribery remains the first choice of many, although he has stated he has no desire to come to England, so I don’t think that will happen. Instead I fancy United to move in for Wigan’s Antonio Valencia. Fergie is a known admirer of the Ecuadorian winger, who has proven he can keep up with the pace of the Premier League and will cost a fraction of what Ribery would have. His arrival will also almost certainly spell the end of Nani’s time with the club.

The second signing is a little bit more tricky. First, we need to wait to see what Carlos Tevez decides to do. If he stays, the club will probably go after another midfielder, but if he goes, we’ll need another striker. There are numerous candidates to fill this void, with Aguero, Villa and David Silva among those reported to be likely targets. Then again, how much can we really read into these ‘reports’? It’s impossible to tell who might be linked with the club before knowing what Tevez and his shifty agent decide to do.

However, no matter where Tevez ends up, I think Ronaldo’s departure will signal the end of Rooney playing out on the left. Next season he will come back into a more central role. This is his best/preferred position and it will make up for some of the goals we will have lost without Ronaldo.

I think this switch could have the potential to be like a new signing as United fans haven’t seen Rooney play in his preferred position for quite some time. His grit and determination down the left flank showed us what an unselfish player he is and these performances will not be forgotten by United fans.

However, we all will be glad to see him back where he belongs, in the thick of the action. He does it for England, and he’s been in devastating form recently. Look for him to recapture his goal-scoring ability for his club next season.

Now, back to Ronaldo. We all knew it was going to happen. I just didn’t think it would happen this early. I’m very disappointed, but at the same time, if a player doesn’t want to play for the team, than letting him go is the right thing to do. And if it’s any consolation, Fergie has a great record of letting players go at the right time. Beckham, Heinze, Van Nistlerooy, etc failed to match their performances after they moved on. This is not to mention the players Fergie dropped as the youth academy class of ‘94 took over (Beckham, Scholes, Butt, etc).

Ronaldo still has a long way to go in his career, but the odds are stacked against him. Although Fergie has been prone to mistakes in the transfer window, his record is flawless when it comes to letting them go.

No player is bigger than the club and as a firm supporter of Manchester United, I hope this record stays intact.

Chris also writes at The Bleacher Bums.

“Ronaldo to Real…Finally. What Next For Manchester United?” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.

I’m going to miss him.

Sure, he’s a diver and a crybaby who is one of the least likable Manchester United players of all time. It was always difficult to defend him to United haters because, for all of his considerable talent, he had the maturity of a six-year old and temperament of a diva.

There were plenty of moments that made United fans feel less than proud over the fact that this Portuguese playboy was the team’s franchise bearer. There was the wink to the bench after his United teammate, Wayne Rooney, was sent off in the World Cup. There was the sideline tantrum after being lifted against Manchester City. There was the training ground dust-up with Ruud Van Nistelrooy. There was the orgy at his house that featured several hookers, Nani, and Anderson. I’m not going to speculate as to who did what with whom.

And there were the dives. Many of them. So many of them. Too many of them. In fact, you would think that he was trying out for Portugal’s Olympic Diving team with the rate that he went down after receiving the slightest bit of contact. There were a few funny bits on Special 1 TV over the last few months, but one of the best involved a puppet version of Ronaldo wearing snorkeling gear while proclaiming, quite rightly, that he did the diving. In fact, they later extracted an entire bit out of the joke, advertising for Puppet Ronnie’s Ab Workout. After all, throwing yourself to the ground and writhing around while contorting your body in ways that would probably hurt way more than any late tackle has to be good for your abs, right?

Despite all his faults, though, the man could score. And I’m not talking about beautiful women (although he was certainly no slouch in that department). As much as his detractors can point to several moments that made fans want to cover up those “AIG” letters on the front of their replica Manchester United kits, there have been many more moments of absolute brilliance.

There was the 40-yard rocket against Porto in the 2008-2009 Champions League, a goal that sealed their advancement into the Semifinals. There was the brace against Arsenal in the next round where he audaciously scored on a free kick from 40 yards and followed up with by running the length of the pitch to receive the pass from Wayne Rooney in the box for the second goal. There was the free kick against Portsmouth last season where Ronaldo let fly a beauty from long-range that prompted Sir Alex Ferguson to say that it was the best free-kick he’s ever seen (i.e. better than anything Beckham ever did). There was the cheeky back-heel in traffic against Aston Villa that still managed to beat Scott Carson easily.

If you go on Youtube and look at nothing but Cristiano Ronaldo highlights, you’ll be astonished at just how wonderful and versatile of a goalscorer he is.

As such, I’m a little astonished at the number of Manchester United fans who are glad that he’s leaving for Real Madrid. Sure, his act had worn thin and it was clear that his heart was no longer at Old Trafford. Sure, Manchester United got a great deal for him at £80 million, a number that was, more or less artificially inflated as a result of his 42 goal season last year.

A Ronaldo-led team can wreck havoc on English teams, but we all saw what happened in the Champions League Final. This season, in order to accommodate him, Manchester United had to play Rooney out of position, and they had to alternate between Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez, a situation that pleased neither of them.

The conventional wisdom is that, without Ronaldo, Rooney and Berbatov will play better, and Sir Alex can replenish his midfield, which was severely exposed against Barcelona. They’ll miss Ronaldo’s goals, but surely the goals will come from elsewhere. Maybe United won’t be as flashy or as exciting without Ronaldo, but there will be no dropoff as long as Ferguson spends wisely, right? If anything, the team will be better off since they’ll stop relying on Ronaldo as much.

However, if you look at the stats, you could argue that they’ll miss Ronaldo a lot more than they think. In the last three seasons, Ronaldo scored a total of 91 goals in 155 matches. During that timespan, there were 18 matches where Ronaldo was Manchester United’s sole goalscorer. In 5 of those 18 matches where his name was the only one on the Manchester United side of the scoresheet, he scored multiple goals. In all, he had 21 matches where he notched multiple goals, including the aforementioned braces down the stretch against Aston Villa, Tottenham, and Arsenal this season. Most importantly, he scored the go-ahead or equalizing goal an astonishing 48 times during the last three seasons.

In other words, more than half of Ronaldo’s goals resulted in Manchester United drawing level with or going ahead of their opponents. One of the (many) criticisms of Berbatov was that he seemed to score when his team was already well ahead and the result was not in doubt. Well, that can hardly be said of Ronaldo.

Also, look at the first month of the just-completed 2008-2009 season. Ronaldo missed the Community Shield, the Super Cup, and three League matches while recovering from off-season surgery. During that entire time, Manchester United failed to score more than one goal in any of their matches and only won one of those matches in regular time. The offense looked stagnant and impotent, so much so that their top scorer was Darren Fletcher.

It wasn’t until the second half of the Champions League match with Villarreal when United’s offense finally woke up and, not coincidentally, that happened to be when Ronaldo made his debut. Even though they ended up with a scoreless draw, the offense finally showed some bite and began getting results afterward.

Sure, it may have been early in the season, and you could probably write it off to the fact that Manchester United simply got off to a slow start. They did the same thing last year and they won the Premiership and the Champions League. However, it also showed just how much this team missed Ronaldo and how they were a much better team with him than without him.

Who’s going to step up and replace all those important goals? Will it be Rooney, who has never scored more than 23 goals in a season? Will it be Berbatov, who has never scored more than 26 and recently admitted to having been scared to take a penalty in the Champions League Final? Will it be Ribery, who’s never had more than 20 goals in any season? Will it be Nani, who was so bad this season that he only made 12 appearances in the League?

Maybe Ronaldo’s departure will actually make the team better and allow the team to pick up where they left off. Maybe Rooney will finally play to his potential and become the lethal force that he could be without Ronaldo holding him back. Maybe Berbatov will thrive after an uneven first year and justify every dime that Sir Alex spent on him and then some. Maybe Hargreaves will return to fitness and become the Roy Keane-type dominator that the team has lacked for years. Maybe Ribery, Benzema, and/or Valencia will contribute so many goals and set up so many others that people will forget that Ronaldo was ever a Red.

Or maybe Rooney and Berbatov can’t step up, Hargreaves retires, Ribery and Co. flop a la Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, Forlan, and Bellion, and United will finish third in the league.

One thing is for sure, though. Manchester United will miss him. You don’t lose a player of his caliber and then assume everything is going to be okay. I guess we’ll have the rest of the summer to worry about that. For now, let’s thank Ronaldo for his six years of outstanding service to the club and wish him the best. He’ll need it, especially if Real Madrid continue to sign offensive stars and ignore their defense. Otherwise, he may finally have to learn how to track back.

“Will United Miss Ronaldo?” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.

Manchester United have accepted a world record offer of £80 Million for Cristiano Ronaldo.

“Manchester United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player,” said a statement from the English club official website. It added that the decision came at Ronaldo’s request after he “again expressed his desire to leave the club”.

Comments from United fans on Ronaldo leaving are both positive and negative. One Man U fan sums it up neatly by saying: ”

Late Monday evening the lastest transfer rumours concerning Kaka’ was confirmed. The Brazilian playmaker leaves Italian side AC Milan for Spanish Real Madrid.

According to Italian and Spanish news the 27 year old Brazilian cost 65m Euro, which makes Kaka the second most expensive football player of all time (Zinedine Zidane still claim the numberone spot).

Zinedine Zidane, nowadays working for Real Madrid as an advisor, confirmed on Monday at a pressconference in Rome that Kaka had signed for Real Madrid.

Who is next on the list for new president Perez and his Los Galacticos v2.o? Ronaldo? Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Ribery? Nothing is for sure but we will soon find out.

Milan owner and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said: “I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep Kaka because they have offered him so much money.” It is claimed Kaka’s father and agent Bosco Leite sealed the deal in Madrid. More to follow soon.

Earlier this year during the January transfer window, Kaka rejected a £100m transfer and a reported wage offer of £500,000-a-week (!!!) to go to Manchester City.

Speculation continues to swirl around Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso – but is Madrid’s interest for Real?

The Legacy of Reprocessing in the United Kingdom by Martin Forwood (A research report of the International Panel on Fissile Materials), seven pages worth of averages from somebody’s village cricket team, a Daily Mail article detailing the drunken debauchery of champagne-guzzling revellers at the Cannes film festival and an email outlining the itinerary of somebody’s stag do in Newcastle.

Some fascinating literature gets printed off and forgotten about in the offices of the Rumour Mill, but nothing so fascinating as the ongoing speculation over the likely wherabouts of the Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso when next season gets under way. Florentino Pérez insists that if he’s re-elected president of Real Madrid, he’ll break the bank to bring Alonso and some young buck named Kaka to the Bernabéu. Quite where this would leave Cristiano Ronaldo is anyone’s guess, but then, anything Senor Pérez says should be taken with a pinch of salt, as he wouldn’t be the first man in search of votes to promise the electorate the moon on a stick, only to let them down once the contents of the ballot boxes have been counted.

If Alonso does end up in Madrid, any monies earned by Liverpool would help Rafael Benítez finance moves for long-term targets such as Valencia’s David Silva, Aston Villa’s Gareth Barry, Portsmouth’s Glen Johnson and Kia Joorabchian’s Carlos Tevez. Benítez could have a bit of a skirmish on his hands as he faces competition for the scrawls of both Barry and Johnson by Tottenham’s manager Harry Redknapp, who will have to offer both men considerably higher salaries to make up for the lack of Champions League and booze-quaffing opportunities on offer to players who call White Hart Lane home.

Wigan is the focus of hitherto unprecedented interest from the money men of Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. The £21m-rated Wigan winger Antonio Valencia is the player who’s got their antennae twitching and while his manager Steve Bruce is resigned to losing his best player, he’s not prepared to hazard a guess as to where he’ll end up. “Would he be tempted by Spain? I don’t know. Bayern Munich are also a huge club in Germany,” he said, showing the kind of football savvy that’s made him one of the country’s most highly respected managers.

If Middlesbrough are relegated on Sunday, Robert Huth, Tuncay, Gary O’Neil and David Wheater will all be put up for sale, although the £9m price-tag hung around Wheater’s ear has already scared away Alex McLeish. “Do you want a bargain?” he asked himself. “Yes. But we think they’ll be looking for £8m-£9m, and it would be difficult for us to pay that,” said the Birmingham City manager who, when he’s finished talking to himself, will take soon-to-be free agent Bobo Baldé from Celtic instead.

With Gordon Strachan rumoured to be thinking of leaving Celtic whether or not they win the SPL title this weekend, David Moyes is being touted as his possible successor. But despite beginning his playing career at Parkhead, the Everton manager is believed to be happy where he is at the moment, unlike Joseph Yobo, whose descent down the Goodison Park pecking order wouldn’t necessarily put off Arsène Wenger, a manager in dire need of an experienced centre-half.

Heard any transfer speculation of your own? We’re listening …

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Another week, another rumor linking Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid. Will it ever end? Not until he actually moves to Madrid, which can’t happen soon enough for some. But, until he moves, he’ll still be popping up in our transfer news and rumors column, along with several other tidbits from around England and Europe.

Spain

Ronaldo or Ribery for Real?

It appears that Real Madrid are going to go all out to sign a world-class winger in the summer, but which one will it be? According to the Daily Mirror, Real are set to offer Cristiano Ronaldo 200k a week to move to Madrid. However, the Daily Mail says that Real’s efforts are focused on Bayern Munich star Franck Ribery.

Analysis: It doesn’t seem too likely that Ronaldo’s leaving Manchester just yet, but fortunately, Ribery certainly seems to be doing his best to get his move to Madrid.

Real Bid for Wigan Winger Valencia

If Real can’t land Ronaldo or Ribery, who will they turn to? The agent of Wigan winger Antonio Valencia has confirmed that Real Madrid have made a bid for the Ecuadorian star. (Sky Sports)

Analysis: Wigan weren’t ready to part with him when Real went after him in January, but Steve Bruce knows that it’s only a matter of time before he leaves. The preferred destination could be Manchester United, but if United aren’t in need of a new winger this summer, then Real will be free to have him.

Barcelona to Rekindle Interest in Bayern’s Lahm?

Barcelona could follow suit with their archrivals by making a move for a Bayern Munich star, as Bayern left back Philipp Lahm could be in their sights again after a failed move in January. (Tribal Football)

Analysis: So, is this is a nice way of saying that they don’t want Eric Abidal anymore?

England

Manchester City to Move for Forlan

Could Diego Forlan be on his way back to Manchester? The former Manchester United man could be, as Manchester City are set to make a move for the Atletico Madrid striker, who’s also been recently linked with Liverpool. (Daily Mail)

Analysis: If Liverpool can afford him, I’d favor them for his signature because they offer a chance to win the Premier League and Champions League, but that all depends on how much Rafa has at his disposal, and if Atletico are going to stand firm by their asking price.

Tottenham Lead Race for Wolfsburg Star Dzeko

Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko has been lighting it up in the Bundesliga this season, and he could soon be doing the same in the Premier League. A number of English sides are being linked with the Bosnian star, with Tottenham reportedly leading the way for the 12m man. (Daily Mail)

Analysis: It could be hard to turn down the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal, unless one of them offered him regular first-team football, but his height, not to mention his prolific scoring ability, would be a welcome addition to Tottenham’s front line.

Tottenham and Chelsea Battle for Lazio’s Pandev

Tottenham could look to make a 15m move for Lazio striker Goran Pandev, though they could be set to face competition from Chelsea for the Macedonian star. (Daily Mail)

em>Analysis: Pandev’s been a pretty solid scorer in Serie A over the last few seasons, but if their options came down to Pandev or Dzeko, I’d take Dzeko.

Italy

Inter Set to Snap Up Duo

Inter Milan are set to complete a double deal with Genoa for striker Diego Milito and midfielder Thiago Motta. Milito and Motta will move to the San Siro in exchange for 16m and young striker Robert Acquafresca. (Goal.com)

Analysis: Tough blow for Genoa to lose a couple of key pieces to their run to a European place, but the deal works out well for them. Not only do they get some cash to strengthen their squad, but the 21-year-old Acquafresca is one of the top young prospects in Italy, and he’s already proven himself as a regular scorer in Serie A, with back-to-back double-digit goal hauls with Cagliari.

Scotland

Celtic In Hunt for Barcelona’s Krkic?

The chances are high that Barcelona striker Bojan Krkic will go out on loan next season, and the latest club to show their interest in the youngster is Celtic. (Goal.com)

Analysis: Celtic already have a relationship with Barcelona thanks to their move for Marc Crosas last summer, so the seeds are there, but my guess is that he’ll stay in Spain.

Daily Links

Cohen Apologizes for Hillsborough Comments

World football Daily host Steven Cohen has finally apologized for his controversial comments about the Hillsborough disaster.

The Best and Worst Englishmen to Play in Italy

Stephen Darwin takes a look at some of the most and least successful Englishmen to ply their trade on Italian soil.

More Great Quotes from Andrei Arshavin

Andrei Arshavin has been a great addition to the Premier League not only because of his skills on the pitch, but also because of his blunt honesty.

“Transfer Rumors (19 May 09): Ribery, Ronaldo, or Valencia for Real Madrid?, Tottenham chase Lazio’s Pandev and Wolfsburg’s Dzeko, Inter set to snap up Genoa duo, and more” was originally published at footballlens.com – football news.