Cristiano Ronaldo

It is one of football's new laws that when a player says he wants to leave a club, he goes. Sometimes sooner, maybe later but the days are long gone when Tom Finney could be told that far from increasing his wages tenfold in Serie A, he would be remaining at Preston on the same money.

Manchester United reacted angrily to a report in the Spanish sports daily, Marca, that Cristiano Ronaldo had been attempting to negotiate a move to Real Madrid if Spain's former finance minister, Juan Miguel Villar Mir, wins the club's presidential election.

Declaring themselves "astonished'' by Ronaldo's comments that he had instructed his agent to open talks with United after speaking to Villar Mir, the club issued a statement denying any contact with either party, ending with the words: "Unfortunately, these tactics are a common occurrence in elections of this nature." This United should know, having offered David Beckham for sale to Joan Laporta during his successful campaign for the Barcelona presidency in 2003.

Ronaldo might claim he had been misquoted although some of his comments aappear unambiguous.

His manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, will be furious. The three Rs on whom he has spent pounds 69 million Rio (Ferdinand), Wayne Rooney and Ronaldo are seen as the core around which United can be rebuilt.