Waiting for Cristiano

The whole of Real Madrid's transfer policy for the summer is predicated on what happens in the Cristiano Ronaldo saga, according to Ramón Calderón. Not that this is surprising: if the figures of 90 million euros or thereabouts are to be believed, it's clear Real will find it hard to make any decisions on what happens to other players, whether incoming or outgoing, until this is resolved. It doesn't take a genius to work out that this is bad for the club's planning for the new season and bad for players' morale, so the longer it drags on the worse it will be.

Ramón Calderón is of a different mind, however, and seems willing to wait, perhaps all summer. To Marca on Saturday he accepted that time is working for Real Madrid and against Manchester United: "theoretically we still have time, two months until the end of August, as long as Manchester United get in touch with Real Madrid to negotiate. Ronaldo said he would like to play for us, that it was his dream to come to Real Madrid, but the player's wishes cannot be realised without Manchester United's agreement".

Calderón seems to be doing the rounds of the media to keep the pressure on United. While in London over the weekend to attend the Wimbledon men's singles final, he replied to a question from The Sun on whether he would put any money on Cristiano joining Real with "I would bet. If a player wants to leave it is difficult to keep him. It is the same for me. If I have a player who wants to go somewhere else, we let them go".

Separately, to As, he gave some hints on what Real's negotiating position vis-à-vis a transfer price for the Portuguese winger would be: "Zidane cost 75 million euros at the age of 29. If Zidane, who was the best player in the World, cost that much in 2001, then it seems logical that for Ronaldo, who is significantly younger, you could now pay 5 or 10 million euros more. That would be fair, wouldn't it?".

The player himself travelled to Amsterdam today to undergo surgery on his ankle. This is expected to keep him out of action for approximately six weeks, which begs the question, why wait that long? Portugal was dumped out of Euro 2008 nearly three weeks ago. Some reports suggest that it was at United's suggestion to delay surgery and see how his condition would develop, but one can't help but speculate whether it was at all influenced by the potential negotiations with Real Madrid.