I get money

Ronaldo again dominates the news today.

His performance against Turkey, in a great team performance, is widely praised, this from The Observer:

Luiz Felipe Scolari sent his team out to attack, Cristiano Ronaldo threatened from every position in it, and a Real Madrid centre back scored the glorious opener to which his wannabe club-mate inevitably contributed. At the death, Ronaldo created one more thing of beauty and there might have been many more. This latest Seleccao created chance upon chance and struck every timber of the Turks' goal.
Ronaldo grew into his game. Possibly pressured by the furore over his stated desire to leave Manchester United, even Scolari admitted the winger had started slowly. Yet Ronaldo finished in style. "I'm pleased," he said. "I did not score, but I think I played well. Turkey played very defensively. They were closed - even when they were a goal down. It was a hard game and it was very important to start with a win. Everyone knew that."

The Times praises Pepe, but also has warm words for Ronaldo:

There was no goal for Cristiano Ronaldo in his first match at Euro 2008 but the Manchester United star delivered a performance of the highest standard

Perhaps the prospect of him joining Real has meant that journalists now feel freer to praise...

Having said that there is still a trend in the media to suggest that Ronaldo is somehow "greedy" for wanting a move. This article, from The Sunday Herald, sums that up nicely:

At 23, the Portuguese stands ready for the second act in his professional career. Soon he will cease to be the golden boy. Given what he has already achieved, and given the usual career paths followed by his sport's elite, he would be forgiven for declaring that what he needs most is a fresh challenge.

Whether he will be forgiven as easily for stating, baldly, that what he actually needs is yet more money might be a different matter. Even if he remains with Manchester United - unlikely, but possible - there will be no halo left to burnish. Just when you thought players had touched the limits of greed, along comes "Ron".

It would be his "dream" to play for Real Madrid, he declares. Then he adds, for the benefit of a Brazilian website and the world, "but only if it is true they are eager to pay me and Manchester United what they have been saying they will".

Note the order of priorities. Note, too, that Real are expected to be eager to pay Ronaldo £12 million a year and silence United with a bid to dwarf the £45.6 million paid by the Spanish club for Zidane, and most likely double the £37 million paid for Figo in the dim and distant days of 2000.

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What sounds to me like a very decent stance - he wants to move if Real are willing to Man Utd a good price - is turned into a desire for money. Now, I'm not denying that Ronaldo wants more money for himself - is that so wrong, he knows his worth and wants it recognised in his pocket - but, to me, the important fact is that, despite the fact that he seems to want to move on, he is not wanting to move at any cost. He still has loyalty to his club.

Tim Lewis in The Observer has a better take on it:

Yet it may be a mistake to portray Ronaldo as a slick-haired mercenary. He is certainly aware of his value to United and after 42 goals in 48 appearances last season, he may feel his £100,000-a-week salary (lower than team-mate Ferdinand's and half-a-dozen Chelsea players) does not reflect his contribution. But money is far from his only motivation. No one who watched his near-tearful dismay as he picked up third place in the 2007 Fifa World Player of the Year, behind Milan's Kaka and Barcelona's Lionel Messi, would be in any doubt of what matters most to Ronaldo. He is desperate to be nothing less than the most exceptional footballer on the planet.

He is still guilty of quite breathtaking narcissism, notably as he eschewed the team celebration to conduct a one-man ritual of self-aggrandisement immediately after United's Champions League victory last month (hang on, didn't he miss a penalty?), but he has achieved something truly remarkable: he has shown that sublime trickery can be allied to devastating power. He is proof that you can have beauty, strength, speed and combativeness in one fancy package.

The Sunday Times has a good piece on the motivations of Real:

They spent £70m in 2007 on new players, none of them remotely household names. It worked, in a distinctly unglamor-ous sort of way, in that a workmanlike team won the Spanish championship for the second year running, but they were easily beaten in the Champions League by Roma (who were even more easily beaten by Man-chester United) and, save for a couple of mightily celebrated victories against a deadbeat Barce-lona, the team failed to stir the blood of the Bernabeu fans. As for the Chinese, Thais, Japanese and Singaporeans, they were mad about Real when Beckham, Zidane and company were there, but have no interest whatsoever in Gago, Pepe and Higuain.

The News of The World follows on from the stupid stories about Sir Alex not being allowed to see Ronaldo with one on him not being able to reach Ronaldo by phone, too stupid to quote.

For once The Mail actually talks sensible:

Sir Alex Ferguson, away at his usual retreat in the south of France, has no plans to interrupt his holiday to make personal contact with Cristiano Ronaldo at Portugal's Swiss training camp during Euro 2008.

Sources close to the United manager have ridiculed reports that he has been barred from a private meeting with Ronaldo at the Portuguese base in Neuchâtel, insisting that Ferguson never had plans to break his family holiday.

Although Ferguson and Ronaldo are unlikely to meet face to face during Euro 2008, it is inconceivable there would be no telephone contact between the manager or his Portuguese assistant, Carlos Queiroz, and the player if it were thought to be necessary.

Two articles in The Observer follow Rio Ferdinand to Nigeria. This one has the details of his trip and a few quotes:

...as Ferdinand made a courtesy tour of the Virgin Airline building after arriving, his expression increasingly became one of benevolent bemusement as photographers, journalists, staff with camera-phones, security officers, bodyguards, policemen, Ferdinand's agent, the hangers-on of Ferdinand's agent, and an ever increasing entourage fought for some quality Rio time.

"What's happening?" was his response to it all as he headed for his blacked-out jeep on route to the orphanage. To his first query regarding Uganda, I offered the opinion that his visit there last summer had been far more intense. Then, Ferdinand spent the 50km from Entebbe Airport to Uganda's capital, Kampala, standing up out of his vehicle's skylight grinning at the thousands who'd risen early to greet him.

Here in Nigeria there has been definite interest. The non-appearance of Mandela might have dampened proceedings but Ferdinand, who has met him before, did not let it show. He was led on a tour of the orphanage but, with the hangers-on multiplying and beginning to become annoying, Ferdinand asked to see the children again, this time alone.

And this one concentrates on his footballing thoughts:

So who comes up with the ideas at United's Carrington training ground - Ferguson or his assistant Carlos Queiroz? 'Ultimately it's the manager, but Carlos Queiroz has been a massive success, and has brought new ideas to the table,' Ferdinand says of the Portuguese coach who is thought to have persuaded Ferguson of the need for 4-3-3 in Europe.

Yet Ferdinand is also keen to dispel the idea of too much forward thinking. 'We didn't really work on 4-3-3 in pre-season, because the boss knows he's got the players who can adapt. Cristiano Ronaldo can play anywhere up top and so can Wayne. Ryan Giggs can play in midfield or up front, Paul Scholes off the front or in midfield, and Hargreaves can play full-back, central or right midfield.

'So I don't think the manager's really bothered about formations. He just puts it out there and knows the players can deal with it.'