While new Real Madrid signing Cristiano Ronaldo was being presented in front of a packed and excited Bernabeu, another great European club was dealing with an influx of fans but for a very different reason.

Hundreds of AC Milan ultras turned up at the first day of pre-season training to protest against the sale of Kaka to Real and the lack of major signings to replace him and Paolo Maldini (whose heir as skipper is Massimo Ambrosini…)

They chanted slogans and unfurled banners calling on owner and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to put his hands in his pockets, one placard even ordered him to sell the club.

Milan hit back by pointing out they have been the most successful club in world football during Berlusconi’s 23-year reign. They said Madrid’s spending in the last month is a freak occurrence which no other club would be able to sustain in current times.

Season ticket sales at Milan have dropped 20 percent for next season given Kaka and David Beckham (for now) have gone, Ronaldinho is nowhere near the player he was and only promising youngsters and Brazilian defender Thiago Silva have been brought in.

Can Milan, third in Serie A last term, really compete this season at home and abroad or will Berlusconi come under even more pressure?

Or are the fans being a little bit harsh on Milan and will Florentino Perez’s new gamble at Real really work?

VIDEO: Ronaldo’s arrival at Madrid

Finally, Real Madrid can say that Cristiano Ronaldo is their player after the club reached agreement with the Portuguese over personal terms (which are presumably pretty generous).

The announcement is there on the Real website, with the news that Ronaldo will be presented at the Bernabeu on July 6. Expect an announcement with the razzmatazz to rival the Beckham presentation…

So Real have got their man, and Manchester United have their 80 million pounds. Will he, and Kaka, be enough to make Real Champions League players once again? And how should United spend that money? They’re going to need inspiration from somewhere…

PHOTO: Cristiano Ronaldo leaves Lisbon airport June 5, 2009. REUTERS/Hugo Correia

Cristiano Ronaldo's obsession with scoring an unforgettable goal in the Champions League final makes perfect sense now the world knows he always intended to leave Manchester United afterwards for Real Madrid.

Reaction in England to his departure was captured in a Guardian headline: "United fans will miss outrageous talent but not a charmless man". Ronaldo, it was said, possessed sumptuous talent coupled with obnoxious self-regard.

What, in the end, will Ronaldo be remembered for? His artistry as a footballer or his perceived failings as a man?

John Updike, who died this year aged 76, gives a clue.

A prodigiously prolific novelist, short story writer, playwright, literary critic, art critic and poet, Updike also produced one classic piece of sports writing entitled "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu". It is a wonderful account of Ted Williams's last game at Fenway Park in 1960, which turned out to be the great slugger's last game anywhere.

Updike cuts to the essence of all great athletes.

"He radiated, from afar, the hard blue glow of high purpose... For me, Williams is the classic ballplayer of the game on a hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill."

Baseball, says Updike, and by extension any sport, is maintained "...not by the occasional heroics that sportswriters feed upon but by players who always care; who care, that is to say, about themselves and their art."

Williams's craftsmanship and rigour appealed to Updike's puritan soul. His achievements, like Williams's, depending on unsparing daily endeavour.

There was, though, a contradiction between Williams the athlete and Williams the man. He was, the sportswriter Roger Kahn said bluntly, "not a man to match the deed but an egocentric emotionalist who seems most of all to need a spanking".

Updike did not avoid the controversies which dogged Williams's career. He just didn't think they mattered. Kahn cared no more than Updike about the personal foibles of Williams or of any other ballplayer. "They are all players in a drama larger than themselves," Kahn wrote. "There is a classic tragedy within major league
baseball that catches and manipulates the life of every athlete as surely as forces beyond the heaths manipulated Hardy's simple Wessex folk into creatures of imposing stature."

Art, not the artist, is what matters in the end. Lord Byron, as a recent biography by Edna O'Brien confirms, was a moral monster. Pablo Picasso, Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra were deeply flawed. Their poetry, pictures, films and music will endure, regardless.

So, too, will the memories of Ronaldo's mesmerising feats at Old Trafford when the narcissism and petulance we read so much about last week have been long forgotten.

In which Owen Wyatt and Kevin Fylan discuss the merits or otherwise of Cristiano Ronaldo’s impending move from Manchester United to Real Madrid.

Real have got the best player in the world, arguably, but have they got a bargain, or come to that a sustainable business model? And just who is the new Claude Makelele…?

We welcome comments below, and if you’re feeling more adventurous please feel free to leave your own video response. Upload it somewhere, send us a link and if we like it we’ll showcase it here.

One of the cruellest insults thrown at Florentino Perez during his first spell at Real Madrid was that the president had turned a great team into football’s version of the Harlem Globetrotters.

For Curly Neal and Meadowlark Lemon read Figo and Zidane. For Wilt Chamberlain and Marques Haynes we had Ronaldo and David Beckham to bring gasps from the crowd and bamboozle the  opposition.

First time around, it took Perez three years to assemble the All-Star cast that came to define his project, and another three for it to collapse under the combined weight of the salaries and egos, and those damned image rights we heard so much about.

In his second spell, Perez seems intent on proving that the only thing he did wrong at the start of the decade was move too slowly.

In the past few days he has pledged 162 million euros in transfer fees alone to sign Kaka from AC Milan and Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.

If Marca and As are correct, David Villa will be the next to come, with Xabi Alonso, David Silva and Franck Ribery among the other targets.

The total outlay could be 300 million euros — plus the agents’ fees and the salary commitments for the next half-decade or so. Whether you feel that sort of spending is justifiable in the current climate, and there are plenty who will see it as plain wrong, this is not going to bring Real back to the position they once held as the neutral’s favourite.

The Bernabeu should certainly be an entertaining place to be next season, as Manuel Pellegrini tries to find a way of getting all the new signings playing together (and leaving any of them on the bench will not be an option).

But even if the coach finds the magic formula and Real win their 10th European Cup at their home ground come next May, they are unlikely to generate the sort of admiration and respect that Barcelona have inspired under Pep Guardiola this season.

Great teams are left to evolve over time and are often based around a nucleus of home grown players (think United’s European Cup winning team in 1999 or Guardiola’s Barcelona).

Some are brought together by a coach’s philosophy or force of personality and yes, it often takes a big-name signing to bring out the best in those around them.

Great teams come together in all sorts of ways but they are never designed with marketing in mind, and they are never just bought off the shelf.

GLOBETROTTERS: A member of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team nicknamed Airport hangs on to the hoop after he makes a dunk during an exhibition match in Budapest February 28, 2008 REUTERS/Karoly Arvai

RONALDO: Cristiano Ronaldo is seen celebrating Manchester United’s victory against Porto after their Champions League quarter-final, second leg match in Porto, in this April 15 2009 file photograph. REUTERS/Miguel Vidal

Manchester United said on Thursday they have received a world record 80 million pound ($131.2 million) bid for forward Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.

“At Cristiano’s request - who has again expressed his desire to leave - and after discussion with the player’s representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player,” a statement on the United website said.

“Matters are expected to be concluded by 30 June. The club will not comment until further notice.”

So Florentino Perez isn’t just stopping at Kaka. It’s shaping up to be one of the most amazing transfer windows ever. Will he go for Franck Ribery too or will United want him as Ronaldo’s replacement?

It’s not a done deal yet, Ronaldo wanted to go last year and it didn’t happen, but this seems pretty definite. How much money has Perez got?

PHOTO: Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo is seen celebrating after scoring his second goal during their English Premier League match against Aston Villa in Manchester, April 5 2009 REUTERS/Phil Noble

Florentino Perez began his second spell as Real Madrid president on Monday and immediately signed up Zinedine Zidane and Jorge Valdano for the project.

Those appointments are all very well, but the question we all want answering is which players Florentino is going to bring in. Will he content himself with one major signing, a la Zidane, or will he, as some have speculated, sign basically a whole new team.

Click the video above to see Owen and myself discussing Real, and considering briefly what went wrong at Real Betis.

And remember, comments are always welcome…

Cristiano Ronaldo’s thunderous strike in Manchester United’s 1-0 win at Porto has been hailed as a wonder goal, but just how good was it?

Few could find such power on a shot from 40 metres, few would even try to shoot from there. The context of the game, where United needed to win to reach the Champions League semi-finals, also adds weight to the argument that it was one of European football’s great goals.

Ronaldo, a former Sporting Lisbon winger, was also playing in the cauldron of the Dragao in Porto.

Counting against the Portuguese is the fact that 49 times out of 50, such a shot would fly high over the bar or be easily stopped by the keeper.

The debate about what makes a great goal has always raged. A majority probably prefer a beautifully well-worked team goal to a long-distance individual strike that could have ended up anywhere.

What do you reckon?

PHOTO: Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo scores during their Champions League quarter-final, second leg soccer match in Porto, April 15 2009. REUTERS/Jose Manuel Ribeiro

Ryan Giggs has probably never received the recognition he deserves for his contribution to Manchester United’s success over the last 15 years.

No other player has collected the full set of medals for all the silverware which has filled the Old Trafford trophy cabinet over that time. Yet several, including Eric Cantona, Roy Keane and Cristiano Ronaldo, have received the major individual awards which have eluded the man who has played more games for United than anyone else.

Giggs started in the first team as a 17-year-old winger famously likened by his manager Alex Ferguson to a “spaniel chasing a slip of paper in the wind”. Ferguson recently described Giggs as the ultimate professional whose burning desire to continue playing at the highest level at the age of 35 should make him a role model for all aspiring footballers.

Giggs has unsurprisingly lost the raw pace which, combined with his skills, used to leave defenders with what his manager called “twisted blood”. But he more than compensates now with a vast experience which allows him to play in a variety of positions.

Ferguson played Giggs as a holding central midfielder in the recent Premier League win over Chelsea and he was used as a striker in Sunday’s FA Cup victory over Derby County. Typically, the Welshman gave a masterclass of passing and clever touches which created three goals and prompted more calls for him to be named England’s Footballer of the Year.

From exuberant spaniel to top dog. That would be a fitting reward for one of British football’s most popular and enduring players.

PHOTO: Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs stretches during a training session at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow May 20, 2008. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

Potential Real Madrid presidential candidates will be trying to decide whether Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi is the player most likely to deliver them the majority of votes in this summer’s election campaign.

Ramon Calderon was forced out of the presidency earlier this month, setting the wheels in motion for another six months of rumours and speculation as rival candidates manoeuvre behind the scenes to take power at the Bernabeu.

The nine-times European champions are ‘owned’ by the thousands of club members rather than a small group of shareholders, and they get to chose their president every four years.

As a result, candidates need to splash the cash with full blown election campaigns complete with manifestos, lists of promises, advertising campaigns, and rallies to win over the voters and the local media. (more…)