Sir Alex Ferguson has dismissed renewed speculation that Cristiano Ronaldo (above) is off to Real Madrid in the summer.
The winger’s wonder goal in Porto last Wednesday has got Madrid’s head honchos licking their lips at the prospect of once again trying to tempt him to Spain.
And with the club set for Presidential elections on June 14, the incumbent Florentino Pérez is desperate to land the world’s biggest star to seal a second term in charge.
Talk has been filtering out of the Spanish giants of deals being put in place to let Ronaldo move to his boyhood dream club.
But Ferguson has been quick to stamp out any Spanish hopes that the United number seven will be off to the Bernabeu at the end of the season.
He said: “I’m not worried about it. I’m happy with Ronaldo’s situation. You’re never going to stop the speculation in this game. It goes on and on.’’
The United boss also revealed ahead of yesterday’s semi-final why he decided to cut his losses on striker Louis Saha and unloaded him to opponents Everton.
The French striker had become a huge frustration to Ferguson as one injury after another ruled him out of action, so he let him leave for the Toffees in a free transfer.
Fergie added: “We experienced similar problems with Viv Anderson. When I signed him for £250,000 in the summer of 87 he’d missed only four games in four seasons with Arsenal and that was through suspension not injuries.
“Then he came here and had a succession of injuries and we let him go. Then he went to Sheffield Wednesday and never missed a game.
“We had a similar situation with Louis missing so many games and I felt it was best to let him leave.
“It’s very difficult to plan when someone’s injured a lot. I felt if he went to another club it might give him freshness and get him back playing.’’
Everton captain Phil Neville described his pride at the prospect at leading the Toffees out at Wembley next month.
He said: “It’s one of the proudest moments of my career — to lead the team out at Wembley in the FA Cup final.
“They say your next achievement is the best and that is certainly how it feels.” [Source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk]
