With all the hype around the world record-breaking transfer to be, will it end up being worth it? Yes and no, thinks Goal.com's Sulmaan Ahmad.
It's incredible to think that just a month ago, Cristiano Ronaldo was bulldozing his way through all opposition that came his way. Manchester United fans were ebullient that their golden boy had gone back to his best - people had even begun saying he was better than Leo Messi, again - but now, it's goodbye and good riddance to an ungrateful and overrated player who can be replaced by the likes of Karim Benzema and Franck Ribery.
Now, his move to Madrid was such an inevitability that many still feeling the effects of wounded pride are masking their surprise and sadness with a mere contempt for the entire affair.
Yes, it was ugly for long periods, as is often the case in such high-profile transfers, but central to the saga is that it was Ronaldo who initially declared his desire to play for Real Madrid and that ultimately, negotiations were civil, private, professional and amicable. Like it or not, the in-between is immaterial.
Florentino Perez, Real Madrid's returning president and Galacticos supremo, has never hidden his desire to purchase star players as commercial assets to enhance the financial strength of the club, a philosophy he traces back to the legendary presidential reign of the great Santiago Bernabeu himself.
There has been a litany of reasons already rattled out by heartbroken United fans and enemies of Perez's big business approach to the beautiful game why this transfer will go down as a failure, but in this instance, Madrid have not only have the most commercially viable footballer on the planet next to David Beckham, but they also have a player who, on the pitch, offers them everything they need in a manner that no one else - not even Kaka - could match.
As a right-winger, Ronaldo perhaps just about edges out Julien Faubert for talent. Factor in his ability to play on either flank, explosive pace, exceptional goalscoring instinct and aerial threat as a central striker - he's not just filling the blanks, he's filling los Blancos.
The inherent danger in signing a player like Ronaldo is that he already believes his own Galactico hype. One thing Ramon Calderon can at least be credited with having overseen at Madrid is the virtual elimination of the ego. Guti and Raul were appointed unopposed leaders of the dressing room and it proved to be to the immense benefit of the club, who performed beyond their means time after time to collect back-to-back Liga titles over a Barcelona side that, on paper, remained markedly superior.
While the risk in Ronaldo upsetting the balance at the Bernabeu is not one that can be overlooked even for a second, but then consider that even Arjen Robben, for all his on-field arm-flailing, has been a very muted and obedient figure off the pitch and in the press since joining Madrid.
For one, the commanding presence of Raul within the team as the leader is greater than that of the shared captaincy at United between the likes of Gary Neville, who barely plays, soft-spoken types like Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, or even Rio Ferdinand. He will be battling for supremacy with a Ronaldo for the second time in his career, with a much happier ending in sight due to his seniority, in every sense, within this team compared to the last one.
Furthermore, Ronaldo may feel relieved of many of the anxieties he faces week in, week out in the Premier League and even, as was the case with Robben, feel more at ease and less inclined to over-act and under-appreciate.
But this is where Florentino Perez, as creator, needs to safeguard against his own inclination to destroy what works on the pitch in preference of what keeps business running off it.
He has sold his vision to the global media of how Zidane, at €73m, was his cheapest Galactico signing and that Kaka, as well as Ronaldo, will pay for themselves.
Maybe they will. But if their sponsorship commitments in any way clash with team affairs, that is when the results take a hit, then the prestige, and then the finances - and you're back to square one. Back to Calderon - and nobody wants that.
But then again, let's remember this transfer is going through for £80m and the deal will be concluded by June 30. This, the same £80m and the same June 30 specified in the mythical pre-contract signed by Calderon and Ronaldo several months ago.
No matter how many times reputable journalists and figures within the game made reference to this contract, not one of the general public believed it was real. The revelations of the last six hours, though, would certainly suggest otherwise.
Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.
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