Seriously mixed feelings today – love or loathe him, Ronaldo was a magnificent player for United, particularly over the past three seasons. I didn’t want him to leave and while it seemed inevitable that he would one day I did think he’d give us at least another season or two, or stay as long as Fergie did.
That being said, £80 million is dead set insane money and his value will only decrease from now on as he’s moving into the third year of a five-year contract and there was no way he was signing another one. If all or most of that £80 million is given to Fergie then it could be exciting times for the club, particularly on top of the kitty we’ve already got plus other sales (Campbell, Manucho, Simpson, a couple of others).
The downside of course is that clubs will now know we’ve got that money to spend and will probably add a few million to their asking price – Bayern have today said that they won’t let Ribery go for less than £65 million, which is even more insane than the Ronaldo money. And regardless of price, neither Benzema nor Villa seem to want to come to England. Valencia is looking a sure thing now though, though also seemingly overpriced at £16 million.
An interesting summer ahead, methinks.