June 27th, 2009 
Lovely Cristiano Ronaldo will complete his world record £80m move from Manchester United to Real Madrid on 1 July after agreeing a six-year deal. Manchester United confirmed earlier this month they had accepted a world-record bid from the Primera Division side and the two clubs have now finalised an agreement for the Portugal 24-year-old winger’s transfer.
A statement on Madrid’s website on Friday evening read: “Real Madrid and Manchester United have signed a final agreement for the transfer of the rights of Cristiano Ronaldo from July 1. “The player will be tied to Real Madrid for the next six seasons and will be presented on July 6 at the Santiago Bernabeu.”
Manchester United said on their website: “Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure is all but done and dusted after Real Madrid and Manchester United finalised the agreement for his transfer on Friday evening. “The Portuguese winger was the subject of a world record £80million offer from the Spanish club on Thursday 11 June. He has since been on holiday but a return to work with new employers now beckons, with the sale set to be completed on Wednesday 1 July.”
The deal for Ronaldo means Madrid will break the world record transfer fee for the fourth time – all sanctioned by president Florentino Perez. During Perez’s first tenure in the position, from 2000-2006, Madrid signed Luis Figo from Barcelona for £37million in 2000 and then a year later brought in Zinedine Zidane from Juventus for £46million.
Then just a week after returning to the presidency at the start of this month, Perez captured the signing of Brazilian ace Kaka from AC Milan for a fee reportedly in the region of £59million. Real Madrid have also signing centre-back Raul Albiol from Valencia for £12m, to bring Real’s total summer spend, so far, to £148m.
Perez and Madrid have now smashed all of those price tags though by bringing FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldo to Spain. Friday’s announcement ends a pursuit that started a number of years ago and came to a head last summer when barely a day went by when Madrid’s chase of Ronaldo was not in the news.
Despite Real Madrid have also been linked with Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso, Valencia’s David Villa and Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery after spending £148m on only 3 players. Ronaldo joined Manchester United in 2003 from Sporting Lisbon for £12.2m, but was strongly linked with a move to the Spanish capital in the summer of 2008.
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