Cristiano Ronaldo backs Blatter's 'slavery' comments

Just when Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United's supporters thought that Cristiano Ronaldo could sink no farther in their estimation, the Portugal forward managed to do so last night by endorsing the comments made by Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, that likened his situation at Old Trafford to slavery.

Blatter provoked anger among United officials and ridicule throughout the football community yesterday when he declared that a disaffected Ronaldo should be free to pursue a transfer to Real Madrid rather than be kept to the £120,000-a-week contract that he signed less than 18 months ago. The player at the centre of the controversy, however, suggested that the sport’s most powerful figure was right.

“I agree with the statements of the president,” Ronaldo told TVI, the Portuguese television channel, when asked about the “slavery” comments. “What he said is correct. You know what I said, what I want and what I would like. Now I have to wait and see what happens.”

Speaking in Lisbon, where he is convalescing after having surgery on his right ankle in Amsterdam on Monday, Ronaldo revealed that he would be on crutches for another fortnight and that it would be ten to twelve weeks before he is ready to return to competitive action. That schedule, which suggests that he may struggle to play before the end of September, raises doubts as to how far Real will go with their bid to sign the 23-year-old this summer, but, with the Spanish champions’ interest seemingly as strong as ever, Ronaldo appears convinced that he has played his last game for United.

They maintain that Ronaldo will not be sold at any price, but his comments represent a resumption of his campaign to talk his way out of Old Trafford. Again he refused to state his intentions outright, but by now even the most blinkered United supporter has realised that their leading player and Real are not merely fluttering their eyelashes at each other.

On messageboards on the club’s official website last night, supporters wrote that they had “really lost respect for him”, that he should “rot in Madrid” and wished him “good riddance”, saying that he was “another brilliant footballer who would fade into his own ego in the Spanish sun”.

Even the Professional Footballers’ Association, which has fought for the rights of its members for more than a century, were appalled by Blatter’s comments about slavery. Mick McGuire, the PFA’s deputy chief executive, said: “It is so inappropriate that he loses any credibility in the argument. There are some words that should never be used in such a context. The word ‘slavery’ gets people wound up and destroys any argument he has. I think he [Blatter] does it for effect. By focusing on Ronaldo’s future, it creates the biggest interest.”

To United’s frustration, the saga of Ronaldo’s future will rumble on for weeks, with the player and Real convinced that they will join forces sooner rather than later. Even though he appeared reticent in last night’s interview, frequently saying that there was no agreement with Real and that he did not wish to elaborate on the matter, Ronaldo continues to tell friends that he will be moving to Madrid.

It is unclear when he will be ordered to return to United, with the next few weeks to be spent recuperating in Portugal, but, with every week he spends away from Old Trafford, he seems to drift farther from the club with which he won the Champions League last season.

At the end of the interview, Ronaldo endorsed the imminent appointment of Carlos Queiroz, the United assistant manager, as Portugal coach, in succession to Luiz Felipe Scolari, calling him a “great coach” and a “good option”.

He declined to answer whether the departure of Queiroz gave him greater motivation to leave United, but the departure of the Mozambican-born coach will leave Ferguson without a significant ally in the increasingly forlorn battle to win back the mind of a player in a world of his own.