United doubt City's Ronaldo intentions
by Tom Kell, 07 September 2008
Manchester United chief executive David Gill says the club would be forced to mull over a bid of £135 million for Cristiano Ronaldo should it be forthcoming, but feels it is unlikely that neighbours City will go through with their threat to chase the Portugal winger.
City are the new big boys in town since their takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group and have taken little time to make their transfer market intentions clear.
Their billionaire front man, Sulaiman Al-Fahim, claims that the club are prepared to send previous record transfer fees into oblivion by pursuing stellar names such as Ronaldo, Fernando Torres and Cesc Fabregas.
With such unprecedented figures being banded around, Gill stopped short of ruling out the sale of Ronaldo altogether, even if he feels it is unlikely to be a decision that he and the club will have to make.
“It was an interesting comment, I think it’s a fan’s type comment,” Gill told the BBC.
"It’s interesting when Alex [Ferguson] mentioned the Dimitar Berbatov signing in advance that complaints were made to The Premier League.
“He [Al-Fahim] mentioned Torres and Fabregas in the same article so I think we will treat that with a pinch of salt.
“I have never met the gentleman. That is a fantastic amount of money and would turn the industry upside down so I can’t believe he is serious at those sort of levels.
“Ultimately we would discuss any offer with Alex and the owners, as that sort of money is very large for one person. But we are not in the market to sell our best players.”