‘United agreed to offer months in advance’

Real Madrid’s sporting director Jorge Valdano has claimed that  Manchester United agreed to the world-record transfer of Ronaldo months before it was announced.

Valdano claimed that the deal was struck before Florentino Perez became Real Madrid president.

But a spokesman for Manchester United said no such deal was struck.

Valdano claimed a contract was already in place when they took over the club on June 1. “With Cristiano Ronaldo we had to sign him now because there was an expiry date. There was a contract and we had to respect the dates stipulated, when to make the signing public, when to communicate with Manchester, when to pay," he said.