Armed Response

There's a bit in The Mail about our Brazilian twins, but seriously, there's only one story today: finally the saga ends. Ends with this interview in a Portuguese paper (via The Guardian, who kindly have the full transcript):

Sir Alex listened to me, I listened to him and we established that the best for both sides would be for me to continue at Old Trafford. So, I can confirm that I'll be playing for Manchester United next season. And before there are any rumours and speculation about me staying against my will, I want to make one thing clear: whoever says or writes anything to that effect is lying. I'll be playing at Manchester United with my heart and soul. I will fight and honour the shirt with the same desire and dedication as I always have.

I won't quote any of the other papers on this: we get a mix of the "so he'll stay for one more season" and the "the fans will hate him". I for one admire the way he takes responsibility for his actions, and, while it may be a little disingenuous of him to claim that all he has ever done is be honest, I admire his honesty in this interview. A few more quotes follow, with the most important bits (to me) in bold:

After we'd won the Champions League, I felt that in five years I had helped win everything there was to win. We'd won the Premier League twice and I'd won a host of individual awards, including the best goalscorer in the Premier League, Champions League and in Europe. So I felt that maybe I needed a new challenge. I never hid the fact that I wanted to play in Spain, at Real Madrid in particular, and I thought this could be the right moment.

Manchester United and Real are probably the two biggest clubs in the world and it would never be an easy decision to make. Apart from the challenge, everyone realises that Spanish and Portuguese culture and lifestyle are more similar. Those were the reasons that made me consider the change.

What I said publicly, which was maybe a little naive, I take total responsibility for. People have to understand one thing: at the age of 18 I arrived at a dream club like Manchester United. It was a dream come true. But, even at that moment, I was thinking about playing in England for some years and then going to play in Spain. Even at that time I was thinking that way, and I always gave 100% everything. Why lie? I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say the opposite of what I think, like some others do. I said exactly what I thought: I have a dream of playing at Real and I thought it was time to move on. People can't be upset about me fulfilling a childhood dream.
The figure mentioned, which would be a world record, would serve as some compensation for the debt of gratitude that I owe the club, as least in material terms. I'm going to say something here that I've never told anybody: if we hadn't been European champions I probably wouldn't have even thought about going to Madrid. And there is something else that should be mentioned: I never wanted to leave against United's will. When they turned down the offer, the people at United made it very clear how much they wanted me. I didn't fully understand it at the time, but now I can really appreciate it.