Ronaldo wants to leave APPARENTLY

5 June 08 by Bill

In an interview with a respected Brazilian website, Ronaldo is quoted as saying �I want to play for Real Madrid, but only if it is true they are eager to pay me and Manchester United what they have been saying they will�.

Of course they will pay what they say they will pay and Ronaldo knows that. No doubt the offer of �300,000 a week AFTER TAX was made to Ronaldo�s agent, Jorge Mendes as well as the world media.

Julio Gomes Filho, the journalist who Ronaldo apparently gave the interview to, declared to Sky Sports News today that the quotes were not from today but wouldn�t specify when they were said. He did reveal that the Brazilian website has had them since at least 3rd June. Obviously we don�t know what�s going on in private but the �300,000 a week offer hadn�t hit the media on the 3rd June and if Ronaldo had already decided by then I would imagine Real Madrid to know about it before any Brazilian journalists.

Ronaldo has never hidden his desire to one day play in Spain and has spoken about it many times. With this in mind and the ambiguity over when these latest quotes are actually from it is difficult to see whether he is being quoted out of context.

The journalist also reported Ronaldo as saying �From now on I will not talk again about this until the end of the Euros. It is not worth asking me because I will not reply�.

Whether these latest reports are genuine or not (we suspect the latter), Terra are certainly making a big splash with this latest �exclusive� and that always raises questions over motives. Perhaps my judgment is clouded by the skills and trickery of the world�s best player but something just doesn�t add up with these latest reports. For us, the timing and the source of the story raise one or two more questions than they answer. The saga continues.