Ronaldo sale set for completion

Cristiano Ronaldo's departure is all but done and dusted after Real Madrid and Manchester United finalised the agreement for his transfer on Friday evening.

The Portuguese winger was the subject of a world record £80million offer from the Spanish club on Thursday 11 June. He has since been on holiday but a return to work with new employers now beckons, with the sale set to be completed on Wednesday 1 July.

United have made no further comment, other than to confirm the finalisation.

Report by Adam Bostock

Fraizer off as Lions make final

Fraizer Campbell will miss the UEFA Under-21 Championship final after being sent off in a dramatic semi-final against the host nation Sweden on Friday night.

The young United forward came on as a second-half sub for England but a red card in extra-time brought his tournament to an abrupt end, even though Stuart Pearce's side went on to scrape through 5-4 on penalties after drawing 3-3.

At the time of his 60th-minute entrance, Campbell was all set to start Monday's final following Gabriel Agbonlahor's second yellow card of the tournament. The Aston Villa striker's booking was the only blemish on a brilliant first half for England who stormed into a 3-0 lead with goals from Portsmouth defender Martin Cranie and Manchester City centre-back Nedum Onuoha plus an owngoal by Swedish captain Mattias Bjarsmyr.

All the goals arose from corners - Cranie fired the young Lions ahead after 55 seconds following a setpiece, Onuoha turned in the second after a ball came in from the left and when a right-wing cross was delivered at the second attempt, Bjarsmyr diverted Lee Cattermole's flick-on past his own goalkeeper.

Sweden's first goal also came from a wide area when Guillermo Molins pulled the ball back and the tournament's top scorer Marcus Berg buried a low shot past Man City keeper Joe Hart in the 68th minute.

The hosts set up an agonising last quarter-hour for visiting coach Stuart Pearce when they made it 2-3 with Ola Toivonen's exquisite free-kick over the wall; Berg then completed the erosion of England's lead six minutes later, with a fantastic strike set up by Robin Soder.

Campbell's first caution came when referee Cuneyt Cakir found fault with his challenge on Swedish keeper Johan Dahlin towards the end of normal time; the crucial second yellow card followed a foul on Mikael Lustig in the 14th minute of extra-time.

More disciplinary trouble hit England during the penalty shoot-out - goalkeeper Joe Hart, one of five scorers from the spot, was booked for gamesmanship and like Campbell and Agbonlahor, he'll miss the final.

England's other penalties in their triumph were converted by Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs and Theo Walcott, Wigan's Lee Cattermole and Middlesbrough's Adam Johnson, prior to the decisive miss by Sweden's Guillermo Molins.

Campbell is one of only two United players to have participated in the Under-21 Championships. His fellow Red, winger Zoran Tosic, bowed out after three group stage appearances for Serbia.

Report by Adam Bostock

Blog: Silly season

Benzema, Villa, Costa, Ribery, Silva, Young, Valencia, Aguero, Eto'o, Nilmar... the list of players supposedly on United's transfer radar lengthens by the day.

The media's scattergun approach to transfer speculation means that every glance at the morning tabloids yields a new exclusive, while the internet spawns and perpetuates fresh myths by the hour.

The sale of Cristiano Ronaldo, topping up Sir Alex Ferguson's transfer fund with an extra £80million, was the fabulists' dream situation - an entire summer with the licence to fill slow news days.

It makes for exciting reading, as a glance at our own What The Papers Say section can attest. Unfortunately, the upshot is that it all needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. There will be truth in some of the whispers, as the club's extensive scouting network always has recommendations and rarely does a transfer materialise without the media catching wind of it.

But the vast majority will be nothing more than bunkum. Will Villa swap Spain for England, just days after admitting that he would definitely be in his homeland next season? Would United move for the 27-year-old in the first place, or even Ribery (26) or Eto'o (28) for that matter?

And how about the fees involved? £50million for Aguero? It's near-impossible to imagine the club parting with a fee of that magnitude. Yes, records have tumbled before for the likes of Ferdinand, Berbatov and Veron, but Sir Alex and David Gill both have a stringent sense of value.

Just because Real Madrid can throw exorbitant amounts of money around, hoovering up players from all over the world, doesn't mean we will.

Ronaldo, Rooney, Anderson, Nani, the Da Silvas, Macheda, Park, Tosic, Vidic, Evra, Carrick. A quick glance over the club's transfer activity in recent years shows mainly players bought in their teens or on the right side of their mid-twenties for reasonable fees and subsequently developed.

When the signings come, the chances are that they will be in that same mould, rather than established superstars with inflated price tags. Anything that suggests otherwise, while entertaining, will be little more than fantasy.

The views expressed in this blog are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Manchester United FC.

Report by Steve Bartram

Karim Benzema

David Villa

Antonio Valencia

Douglas Costa

Nilmar

Iker Casillas

Ashley Young

Douglas Costa

Fernando Torres

Sergio Aguero

Samuel Eto'o

David Silva

Arjen Robben

Joao Moutinho

Antonio Valencia

Franck Ribery

Karim Benzema

Papers: Karim deal closer

United close in on Benzema
Sir Alex Ferguson took another step towards the £30m capture of striker Karim Benzema yesterday. But Manchester United could yet face fierce competition from bitter transfer market rivals Real Madrid. Fallen French champions Lyon opened the door to the sale of prize asset Benzema by making a £15m move for Porto striker Lisandro Lopez. It is a clear indication that Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas is preparing to cash in on his 21-year-old star. Lyon were knocked back in a bid for Paris Saint-Germain’s Guillaume Hoarau. But their rapid response was a move for Portugal ace Lopez. That is good news for United boss Ferguson, who is aware Benzema is in no hurry to leave Lyon until after the World Cup next summer. The Old Trafford chief’s main problem could be big-spending Spanish giants Real, who have taken £80m Cristiano Ronaldo from United and also want Wigan winger Antonio Valencia. Real are now likely to target Benzema, leaving United to hope that the Galactico policy at the Bernabeu will persuade the young Frenchman his prospects will be better at Old Trafford.
Bill Thornton, Daily Star

The Daily Mirror says Sir Alex Ferguson will quickly slap in a £40million bid for Spain's David Villa, after Barcelona opened the bidding for the Valencia star. However, the article does include Villa's assertion that: "Next season I will play in Spain because it is the league that is best for me." The same paper speculates that Nani could be used as a makeweight in a deal for Wigan's Antonio Valencia.

The transfer tittle-tattle keeps coming. United will have to fork out £25million - without an initial three-week trial - for Gremio starlet Douglas Costa, according to The Daily Mail.

Tomasz Kuszczak may be following Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez out of Old Trafford, with The Sun tipping Zenit St Petersburg to make a £2million move for the Polish goalkeeper.

Round up by Steve Bartram

Karim Benzema

David Villa

Antonio Valencia

Douglas Costa

Nani

Tomasz Kuszczak