After months of claims, counter-claims, arguments, complaints, backchanneling and negotiations, Cristiano Ronaldo became a Real Madrid player on July 1, 2009.
Ronaldo was just 24 years old when he broke the world record for the biggest ever transfer fee. Real shelled out £80million to land the Portuguese forward to complete a long and arduous pursuit of a player they had flirted with for years.
United accepted the bid reluctantly. Sir Alex Ferguson knew how good Ronaldo was, having overseen his record of 118 goals in 292 appearances in the previous six years. The United boss was unhappy with everything around the Ronaldo sale. He described the way the transfer market had escalated over the summer as "stupid" and reserved plenty of specific criticism for Real Madrid.
