New Delhi: After Manchester City gave Stoke an encore of their FA Cup triumph beating the Potters 3-0 and virtually guaranteeing themselves an automatic Champions League spot, the hardworkers at the rumour-mills heard of this grave news and knew that their work was cut out. An overtime shift to link every household footballing name to megabucks City.
So no one would have really rubbed their eyes or pinched themselves when The Mirror put out a report that the Eastlands club had launched a world-record bid for Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo.
After being linked to Kaka, Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi you would only expect it to be so long before the former Manchester United ace was morphed in sky blue by tabloids world wide.
But here are a few reasons why the boy who started his career at Sporting Lisbon will never be surrounded by fans chanting 'Blue Moon'.
Cross-town connection:
Manchester United. Need I say more? The last time a player donned the City sky blue foregoing the United red was a certain unsettled striker at City, who pledged his future for the club only recently. Carlos Tevez's transfer to Eastlands sparked a furore which even got the calm United gaffer Sir Alex Ferguson dragged into the fracas.
Who can forget the 'Welcome to Manchester' banner for the Argentine hitman and all the hatred between the two clubs on numerous occasions centering around Tevez.
Cristiano Ronaldo accompanied Carlos Tevez on way to the out gate at Old Trafford, albeit on cordial terms and has since not stopped singing praises about his former employers or jumping to their defence as and when required. Would the Portuguese really risk the wrath of the Old Trafford faithful and importantly Sir Alex Ferguson's ire with the proposed switch? And reiterating his desire to again wear the famous red of United, would he risk all of that, only an eternal optimist would agree.
The suitors:
Manchester City spent in excess of 200 million pounds in the course of the season, recruiting players at highly inflated amounts. What of the earlier costly recruitments? Well, such is the freedom to spend at Eastlands, that players like Roque Santa Cruz, Adam Johnson and Adebayor were literally left to rot at the sidelines.
What impression doe this leave on a player dubbed to be City's next big signing, that he is dispensable, not because of competition for a starting place, but on the basis of a price tag. Yes, Ronaldo will be the costliest buy of the season, yes his name will be in the team sheet for more reasons than one, but will he be able to play with the same set of players week in week out? Many would disagree.
A vital cog in a team's success is the ability to feed off your teammates' instinct, the same dynamic which great teams like Liverpool, Manchester United and Barcelona have followed enroute to unending glory.
So a more lucrative sight for Ronaldo would not be a hefty price tag but a streamlining of the current City squad which guarantees him to play alongwith the likes of Tevez and Sliva on a weekly basis.
The current employers
There really has to be a very good reason for Los Blancos to let go off their marquee signing who they only brought on board last year. With Ronaldo scoring goals at will and pleasing the hard to appease Bernabeu faithful, it would completely be a surprise if Real Madrid let go off him.
Simple logic dictates you can only earn so much profit with a player who you bought for 80 million Pounds, and you'd rather want him on the field than his monetary equivalent in the bank. And when you're Real Madrid, funds are a lure to which you can always say 'no' to.
With Jose Mourinho's services being asked to be kept on hold as the Manchester United successor he might as well keep his star man for another season to heal his wounds of defeat with revenge against bitter rivals Barcelona.
The battle for supremacy:
Ever since his meteoric rise to the pantheons of modern footballing greats, the desire to go one up over his current competitor has consumed him since the beginning of time. The battle between Ronaldo and Messi has captured the imagination of all in love with the beautiful game.
During his record-breaking season at Manchester United, many cynics defied his brilliance by stating that he and the Argentine were not on level-footing, and ever since his arrival in the La Liga by silencing one and all, putting the phrase, 'what you can do, I can do better' to implementation.
Why would the versatile forward, go back a step in his glittering footballing career when he can renew this exciting rivalry for seasons on end.
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