It is about time, the Cristiano Ronaldo saga is finally over.
Over the past few days Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Ronaldo is staying at United, Roman Calderon has said that after signing Van De Vaart that he would probably be the only signing. Ronaldo has now said that he will be staying at United.
Today I woke up to the news that Cristiano Ronaldo has officially spoken to the press about his future.
Here is the interview he gave to Portugese newspaper Publico:
"I will remain with Manchester United for at least another year,"
"Sir Alex Ferguson heard my arguments, I heard his and, in fact, it was settled that the best for both parties would be for me to stay,"
"Therefore, I can confirm that, next season, I will play for Manchester United.
"Before rumours emerge saying that I will play against my will, I want to make this clear - whoever says or writes that is lying.
"I will play for Manchester with all my heart and soul. I will fight and honour that shirt with the same commitment and dedication as always."
"I was responsible for all this controversy," he said.
"I was the one who publicly expressed my desire to go to Real Madrid. I ended up being, even involuntarily, responsible for the poor relationship between the two clubs."
"My desire was, for some time, that Manchester had accepted my transfer to Madrid.
"Saying otherwise would be to trick people and my own consciousness."
Ronaldo has finally said what he is going to do next year, and in my opinion I think it is about time.
Ronaldo has also taken responsability for all the press speculation, which is true, he could have put the whole thing to rest with one news conference or just saying- I am staying at Manchester United or I am going to Real Madrid.
I am relieved that this whole thing is over now, it was getting extremly boring and we can now probably concentrate on getting him fit and the new Premier League campaign.
Hopefully this will be the last time for a bit that I will be saying Ronaldo and Real Madrid in the same sentence.
The only sentence I would like to hear with those two words in it is: Ronaldo knocks Real Madrid out of the Champion's League.
UPDATE: For the full interview click here, it is extremly long