It's Ronaldo again. There's this bizarre story in The Times:

Cristiano Ronaldo’s faltering relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson appeared to deteriorate further yesterday when the Portugal winger effectively banned the Manchester United manager from visiting his country’s European Championship training camp.

In an embarrassing snub, Ronaldo has told team-mates that Ferguson is not welcome in Switzerland, bringing a premature end to proposals for peace talks that surfaced in the light of his continued flirtation with Real Madrid.

Now, I read a lot of Man Utd stories, as you might imagine, but nowhere have I seen these imagined peace talks mentioned. The last I heard was that Sir Alex was on holiday in France and leaving David Gill to sort out this type of thing. I'm sure I quoted the story at the time, and if I wasn't in a hurry this morning I'd find the reference.

A good article in The Guardian on the cost of any deal, which, if Ronaldo must go, is what's important. The article, by Sid Lowe, urges caution:

Ultimately, Ronaldo's public desire to depart is likely to be the deciding factor but Ferguson is not the wounded prey Madrid would like. Nor is he the willing seller they could count upon in the past. Ferguson claimed last week that United sold Ruud van Nistelrooy and Beckham to Madrid "because they wanted to" and there was an element of truth in that. This time he has no intention of selling. Unless the price is colossal.

Madrid's position is not so strong as on previous occasions under the former president Florentino Pérez. Madrid allowed Juventus, Internazionale and United to believe that they could walk away from deals if needs be. Now, unlike before, it is United who apparently stand to gain from a collapsed deal. Ferguson has already answered the threat of being lumbered with an unhappy player by insisting he will leave Ronaldo in the stands if necessary.

There have been suggestions of a fee as high as €98m or an offer involving players as significant as Sergio Ramos and Robinho and a salary almost twice that earned at Old Trafford. The figures may only be rumours but by insisting that he would go "if" his suitors matched the kind of figures being thrown about "for me and United", Ronaldo last night effectively forced them to do exactly that.

United will surely do likewise. Madrid may get their man, but it could be a Portuguese and a Scot who are laughing all the way to the bank.

The important thing could well be that while Ronaldo has said he would like to play for Real he has still said, "if the price is right", for both him and us, so we are still, hopefully, in a position of strength.