In a short span of time, we’ve seen the world’s best players, some who’ve turn their backs on the world’s best football team, opt for a chance to ply their trade in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

Kaka’ was the first big signing for a reported fee of 56 million big ones even after numerous pledges to stay on with Milan.

Then it was the transfer of the millenium, with Manchester United making a tidy sum 68 million pounds in profit with the disposal of the problematic Cristiano Ronaldo, who has also made a public pledge of loyalty to his club, and then leaving anyway.

Already hit hard by the loss of the most talented footballer in Europe, United were at the very least hoping to acquire the services of SAF’s long-admired target from Lyon, Karim Benzema. Again, it was announced today that Madrid have beat United to the transfer game again with the French striker agreeing a 30 million pounds move to Spain.

Further bad news come rolling our way as my favourite transfer rumour will most probably never come true. Ribery has reportedly chosen the player-whoring club Madrid as his only destination after Bayern.

So what’s up with Madrid? Why are these world beaters flocking to Madrid like there’s a goldrush going down?

I would think that they fancy themselves as being part of the best team to ever be put together. Fine, it does look like Perez is in the midst of assemblying the most devastating football squad the world has ever seen since the last Galacticos era.

But the manner in which some of the players left and yet are lauded as heroes, leave me out of supporting the Madrid cause.

It’s up to Barcelona to stem this great tide from the Spanish capital and for United to rebuild and let Madrid know who’s the boss in Europe.

Coolest promo photo.

I must be frank and admit that I feel a little let down by the latest rendition of the Red Devils home kit. I wouldn’t go as far as calling it ugly but I’m sure Nike could’ve done a much better job. The new kit doesn’t really provide us with much “good news” after the departure of THAT twat.

I reckon I’ll still buy it. All I’m saying is that instead of going a step ahead in kit design, United and Nike went backwards. Then again, the sheer brilliance of the 08/09 kit probably set the bar a little high this time around.

Maybe I’ll to like it. More. :p

P.S If you haven’t gotten tickets to watch Man United in Malaysia on the 18th of next month, you can stand a chance of winning a pair of tickets when you pre-order the new kit between July 1 to July 13th. More details here.

Park in new boots too?

I received a comment from a previous post as follows.

# 1 Nas Says:
June 20th, 2009 at 12:26 pm e

I Want Beckham Back To Man Utd And Wear the Number 7 Shirt..

Now isn’t that an idea? :D

However, I doubt we’ll see Becks back at United since the club supposedly turned into a profit first - trophies later institution.

Beckham will definitely be seen as a no-resale value player by the Glazers. I wish there was some way that SAF can boot them out and take full control of United.

United’s 08/09 mid-season signing, Zoran Tosic claims that the rest of the team knew that Ronaldo had set his heart on leaving before the debacle in Rome last month.

Apparently, “it’s enough to be here” and that “he’d won all the awards in England and wanted to try something else.”

Could this revelation have been a  more than significant factor and reason for our abysmal showing in the finals?

Apparently, Manchester United have set a cap on the age of players that Ferguson will be able to “splurge” on.

I can’t help feel that our beloved club has gone to the dogs. While Madrid are building a footballing empire as I type, United seem to be taking a step back with each passing day.  I don’t believe in jinxes so I may as well say that I fear a beginning of a dark era for our club. WIthout a doubt, our rivals have celebrated the departure of Ronaldo and without a Ribery/Ibahimovic, the media will be putting Liverpool as favourites to capture the Premier League next season.

As it is, although a complete twat, United have undoubtedly lost our best player. I, along with millions of  other fans were already upset that United did not stitch up a deal with a credible replacement before letting Ronaldo go to Madrid. What’s worse, United’s ability to find a worthy replacement seems  all but extinguished with this new ridiculous policy.

Top replacement targets for many United fans including Ribery, David Villa and Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be out of reach should the age policy be implemented. We need these players now and not some young hot shot who thinks he’s as good as Ronaldo. Trust me, I think he’s the biggest piece of sh*t in the world but I still admit that he is the world’s best player at the moment. I don’t see a need to revamp the team. We have great players in every position. We just need to do our best to fill the No.7 shirt!

Ronaldo’s departure does not only mean one less player at United. It represents a psychological boost to our rivals and we need to get an equally big signing to regain that momentum.

Initially, I fully expected United to replace him with a capable high profile player but I am losing hope. Not just because of the dumb policy but also because the players seem more interested in going to the scum football club called Madrid.

Benzema and Valencia may be capable but we don’t have a season or two for him to flourish. We got that 4th straight title to think about dammit!

Rooney can’t do everything by himself ya know. Some quality help would be great.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Ronaldo’s work. Many can see that I write pretty extensively about his on-field exploits against Premiership and other European pretenders.

But it’s always been United first, Ronaldo second. Truly.

Now that he’s on his way out, will I still be a fan? A straight no.

For various reasons.

The most obvious being, MADRID. They’ve stooped to new lows after last summer’s “Ronaldo fiasco“. The boy was on the edge. Their constant pursuit pushed him over it. Madrid thought they were a club that could get anything they want. Thanks to some serious lack of judgement, that has been proved true. But that’s a whole different story all together.

Next, is his personal traits. Him walking out on us says a lot. For one, he doesn’t care about us, the fans, who’ve supported and defended his BS all these years.  I can’t start to count how many scousers I had to counter in his defence.

His ungratefulness is not only felt by us but more so by the boss. Ferguson collected him off the dirty sidewalk and turned him into the best player in the world.

The United family tried their best to keep him calm after his late father’s death.

Ferguson stuck his neck out for Ronaldo after he returned from the 2006 World Cup a villain. United fans closed an eye to his supposed “role” in Rooney’s WC 06 dismissal. Because he was our player. To quote Scott, “He’s a tosser. But he was our tosser.“

Maybe he did take all these into consideration when contemplating a move away from Mancheseter but his flight ticket to Madrid just throws that all out the window and I will always see him as an ingrate.

Ronaldo’s departure to Spain also proves him a liar. After constant “pledges of allegiance” and even video evidence of it, the prick still left.

I can defend his diving. He was young and naive. And for the fouls that were given “unfairly”, countless legitimate ones were not.

I can defend his arrogance and “I’m the man” attitude. He was the world’s best player. Which world beater did not have a head the size of Jupiter?

I can defend his rock star lifestyle and sh*t sense of style. He’s got a bank full of money and he can live however and wear whatever the heck he wants.

I can defend his “petulance“. Ferguson and him were like father and child. No problems there.

But a straight up lie to his loyal fans? Sorry Ronnie. This is goodbye. We wish you and your family well.

I’m disappointed that you had to leave but make no mistake, I’m glad I don’t have to clean up your mess here in Malaysia anymore.

I trust SAF will pass the No.7 shirt to a classier person, if not footballer, than you.

So there’s no denying it. Ronaldo is heading to Madrid.

If this is so, let me first apologize to those journalists that I accused of being speculative and sensational.

And now let me apologize to myself for ever defending the prick named Ronaldo, every single time.

Ronaldo to Madrid, a mistake by the player, a mistake by the club.

We don’t know who has authorized the sale, whether if it was the naive American owners of the club or if it was Sir Alex himself who decided to let him go.

If it was up to the boss, fine. I don’t agree to it but he’s the boss.

If it was the Glazers, against the will of Sir Alex, I say lets get them out of the club.

Fine, maybe Ronaldo was intent on leaving all this while but the fact is, we had the upper hand in keeping him away from Madrid. But alas, 80 million big ones was too much to say no to.

I wish him all the best partnering Kaka’ in Madrid.

I’m am not sad. I am disappointed and angry. Even with 80 million, who the hell are we going to bring in? Benzema? Valencia? Are you kidding me? (I did not mention Ribery because it doesn’t look too likely that he will be making the trip to Old Trafford even though this would be ideal.)

Before every match, who will our opponents be talking about? Ronaldo. We don’t have that psychological advantage anymore. And you must be completely ignorant to think that we could have won last year’s Premiership had Ronaldo not been around. BS.

News of his departure will no doubt bring cheers from all United rivals. Unless we get Ribery or someone (I don’t know), Liverpool look more likely to get that 19th title.

But in Sir Alex we have trust. For United’s sake, I hope he’s got this one all figured out.

As I pen this post down, our boy Wazza has already netted two against Andorra for the Three Lions!

Oh, from the official Manchester United website, a reflection of Wazza’s 08/09 season,

While debate raged over the relative merits of Berbatov and Tevez in the front line, nobody questioned the inclusion of one Reds striker…

Wayne Rooney may have operated in a number of roles in 2008/09, but it didn’t stop him being hugely effective for the Reds, playing at full throttle with spectacular scoring bursts and all-action displays. And despite the red mist at Fulham, his maturity was influential in United’s success.

Start to finish: With Cristiano Ronaldo injured and Dimitar Berbatov yet to arrive, United started the season with Rooney shouldering the attacking responsibility along with Carlos Tevez. It took Wayne a few weeks to get into the scoring groove but, as ever, when he found his range he was utterly devastating. In the autumn we were treated to a scoring streak of nine in seven matches in all competitions, a spell Rooney admitted was the best form of his career. An unfortunate by-product of his uncompromising attitude is always the risk of injury and in mid-January Wayne damaged his hamstring after just eight minutes of the Wigan home match – having scored the only goal of the game after 54 seconds. He returned after six weeks out and was immediately back in the goals, netting against Fulham and Blackburn in the space of four days, and continued to exert considerable influence as the Reds marched relentlessly to a third successive title.

In position: Wazza famously will play in any position in training and fancies himself as one of the best goalkeepers at the club, and while his versatility doesn’t stretch quite that far on matchdays, he’s willing to perform whichever role the manager feels necessary. Sometimes used up front on his own, increasingly he starts off on the left side, and while it may not be his preferred position, he’ll perform his role with nothing less than 100 per cent.

Season highlights: Wayne’s tally of 20 goals in all competitions including the winner in the FIFA Club World Cup final. In the league, the 5-2 thriller at home to Spurs will live long in the memory and while Tevez’s high-impact substitute appearance was the comeback’s catalyst, Rooney was at the centre of everything, scoring two, making two and setting up Michael Carrick for the penalty shout that started it all off.

Vital contribution: Coming from Merseyside, Rooney fully understands the importance of derby days, and this season he was delighted to score the decisive goal away at City.

Any lows: His injury aside, the sending off against Fulham was harsh, but was another bleak moment in a nightmare seven days.

Any other business: The nation’s journalists recognised Rooney’s contribution this season, voting him third in their Footballer of the Year poll.

Firstly, I leave it to my intelligent, educated and well-versed readers to decide how Real’s Director General, Jorge Valdano’s comments of,

I can only talk about players who are on their way here, not about those we are in negotiations over.

He is a great professional, he dedicates a very great deal of time to his work. He is a great footballer and a very good professional.

According to the information we have managed to obtain, he is an excellent professional.

Can be justified by a headline of,

Real Madrid Are In Negotiations With

Cristiano Ronaldo - Jorge Valdano

From Goal.com

Secondly, Real Madrid “negotiations” have been going on for 2 years now with no progression!

Some may wonder why hasn’t Sir Alex responded to these ridiculous articles. Simple. He’s on holiday and couldn’t care less about what these leeches have to write.

To a certain extent, I would think that he understand that these idiotic-so called journalists coming up with grandmother stories as above only did so because they’re desperate to give something to their bossess to publish in time for press time. Tall stories sell.

P.S Look at what’s happening to Milan days after Kaka’s departure? Upcoming summer targets? Wolfsburg’s Edin Dzeko, for crying out loud! A replacement for Kaka’? Are you kidding me?

SAF won’t let that happen to Manchester United. With Ribery’s transfer hopes to Old Trafford thinning, the Gaffer won’t have Ronaldo leaving anytime soon.

Our boy sure dreams big, a target of being the first 50 goal man in the Three Lions history is being set by Rooney.

I won’t be betting against it.

Rooney’s form for England is nothing short of sensational, 7 goals out 5 games under Fabio Capello.

On another note, I must admit that I was utterly disappointed by Rooney’s performance in Rome 09 (yes I still can’t stop thinking about it). Truthfully, I expected Rooney to lead us to victory, not Ronaldo.

If Rooney had a good game and was able to feed Ronaldo the way he did during Premier League games, the tie was all but in the bag. I expected him to rip Barca apart in his role as a wing wizard but credit to the Catalans for being an amazing side and shackling Wazza. But hey, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right?

Rooney will bounce back stronger and hungrier than ever.