Alex Ferguson has rubbished suggestions that Cristiano Ronaldo could be tempted away from Manchester United by insisting that the club is big enough to keep the Portuguese superstar.
Ronaldo, 22, has emerged as the biggest draw for soccer-crazy fans in Asia during United's tour of the region, with incredible scenes of adulation greeting the player so far in Tokyo, Seoul and Macau.
Ronaldo, 22, has emerged as the biggest draw for soccer-crazy fans in Asia during United's tour of the region, with incredible scenes of adulation greeting the player so far in Tokyo, Seoul and Macau.
The former Sporting Lisbon youngster has scored in each of United's tour games and there is a growing belief that the forward is now the key man in Ferguson's team. Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona have both tracked Ronaldo since last year's World Cup and rumours persist that the Madeira-born player is keen to return to his Mediterranean roots at some stage in his career. However, having penned a new five-year deal at United earlier this year, Ferguson insists he has no fears over Ronaldo's long-term future at United. "As for talk of Cristiano being bought by another club, I can say that he only signed a new five-year contract three months ago, so why would he leave?" asked the United boss. "He is very happy here at United because he knows he is at the right club. This is a massive club and Ronaldo knows he can achieve great things here."
Fellow Portuguese striker Nani, 20, made his United debut in the 6-0 rout of Shenzhen here on Monday and Ferguson believes that the 17.3 million pound buy from Sporting Lisbon has the potential to emulate Ronaldo at Old Trafford. "We knew about Nani before we signed Ronaldo because he was in the youth team at Sporting, so we have followed his career in the time since," he said. "He is a tremendous talent who we hope will become a fantastic player for us, but the Shenzhen match was his first game and he needed it because he hasn't played since the European Championship tournament in Holland last month. "He has recovered from his ankle injury, but not done a great deal of training, so it was good to see how he did against Shenzhen.
"He scored a good goal as well, so it was a good start for him." United complete their four-game tour of Asia on Friday when they face Guangzhou Pharmaceutical in Guangdong in southern China before flying home to Manchester.
Their pre-season warm-up continues with a glamour friendly against Italian champions Inter Milan at Old Trafford next week
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