World Record Transfer Fee as Ronaldo to Madrid is now for 'Real'

Finally, after last summer's "will he won't he" saga, Manchester United have accepted a bid of £80 million for Cristiano Ronaldo from - who else - Real Madrid.

This surpasses the previous "world records"of £45.6m (73.3m Euros) that Real paid for Zenidine Zidane and more recently recently £56 million (68 million Euros)  for Kaka. I say "world records" because Kaka's is only a World Record in British pounds because of the changes in exchange rate.

It seems that Manchester United have resigned themselves to losing Ronaldo, but at least will not be losing him on the cheap! It is hard to estimate how valuable he really is to the team. He was certainly missed early this season and despite some of his on-field antics he really is a wonderful talent.

As the BBC's Mike Ingham points out, it might benefit the team, freeing up Wayne Rooney and allowing them to buy Carlos Tevez as well as another world-class talent as Ronaldo's replacement (Valencia or Robery?).

As someone who doesn't watch La Liga, my view is that Madrid's gain will be the Premier League's loss even though Manchester United will undoubtedly use the money well.

Only yesterday, re-elected Madrid president Florentino Perez was quoted as saying "Bayern do not want to sell, therefore I have to be respectful to the club", when talking about Frank Ribery. I wondered then what he was up to, as surely a leopard can't change his spots quite so suddenly and dramatically, and today we have the answer.

Question: Are Perez and Madrid set to make the same mistakes all over again by building a team of 'Galacticos'?

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Rob Robson
Co-founder, iStadia.com