Ronaldo to Real Madrid Back On?

Call this one the rumor that refuses to die. I'm hanging out with a friend, sipping on some Guinness and see that somehow soccer has made on the ESPN news crawl. My interested piqued as I waited 15 minutes before the soccer story was replayed across the bottom of the screen.

The message said Cristiano Ronaldo had reached a personal agreement to join Real Madrid according to a Spanish media outlet. The report states that Ronaldo has made a "secret pact" with Madrid president Ramon Calderon and that they will buy him for €85 million. ($112 million U.S.)
Smelled pretty fishy, as both Ronaldo and Manchester United denied the claim. Yet Spanish journalist, Guillem Balague also seems pretty certain that a deal is in place.

At this point until Ronaldo is wearing a No. 7 (or whichever number his chooses) jersey and smiling out the Santiago Bernabeu I'll file this one under the rumor category. This was talked about all summer and it didn't happen. Manchester United held firm and Sir Alex Ferguson must have convinced the peerless Portuguese winger that his immediate future lies at Old Trafford.

Ronaldo hasn't hidden the fact that he dreams of playing for the Spanish giants and probably will someday. But why would Manchester United -- barring a complete economic collapse of the Glazer family -- sell the world's best player? Isn't that what Manchester United does when needed? (See Dmitar Berbatov, et al.) Unless come the summer Ronaldo flatly refuses to play for Manchester United, what point would it be for the club to sell him since he is completely irreplaceable.

To me this seems as something Calderon could have floated in the media to take the heat off allegations that came out Tuesday that he rigged a vote about his tenure as president in December. Seems like the promise of Ronaldo is a perfect way to deflect some of the mounting pressure with the club 12 points adrift of first place Barcelona in La Liga.