EUROPEAN ROUND-UP: Naziro de Lima Ronaldo Luiz, otherwise known as Ronaldo, flies into Madrid this morning for a routine medical check-up which represents his first official act for his new club, Real Madrid.
It was only when the fax machine at Inter Milan's Via Durini headquarters in downtown Milan cranked into action shortly after 11.00 p.m. on Saturday night that the transfer of the Brazilian ace was finally and definitively confirmed. The 25-year-old joins Real for a fee of €45 million, an amount agreed just hours before the UEFA deadline for this season's UEFA Champions League squad lists.
Ronaldo's move thus ends both his unhappy, injury tormented five-year spell with Inter and also the longest-running transfer saga of this European summer. The move also says much about the player-power now underpinning top-level football since it was primarily dictated by the player himself.
That Ronaldo might be on his way out of Italy was obvious almost minutes after he had scored the two goals which saw Brazil wrap up this summer's World Cup final.
Absent from Ronaldo's deluge of post-tournament promises and dedications was any reference to the country or club where he had played (not very often) for the last five years since moving from Barcelona in the summer of 1997 for a then record $42 million.
Above all, both he and his entourage knew it was better to strike while the iron was still hot, whilst the value of the rehabilitated Ronaldo, leading goalscorer at the World Cup finals, was at a new, perhaps temporary high.
Why wait for a few poor performances or, worse still, a new injury to spoil the sales pitch? Thus it was that Ronaldo put himself on the market, much to the chagrin of Inter Milan.
It says much, too, about Real Madrid's lukewarm interest that they haggled long (Inter originally asked for €100 million) and waited until the last minute before signing the player.
It says even more about the player's questionable fitness and long term durability that Real have reportedly insisted on a contract clause relating pay to performance. In other words, if Ronaldo is injured, then no wages.
Given that Ronaldo's dodgy knees have required three major operations and an unknown amount of pain-killers, Real Madrid's caution is understandable. Perhaps that medical test this morning is not quite so routine after all.
Real Madrid play Espanyol in their first Primera Liga game this afternoon.
Last night, though, former Real Madrid player Luis Enrique scored twice for Barcelona, but brave Atletico Madrid battled for a draw on their return to the Primera Liga.
Champions Valencia opened the defence of their title with a 2-0 win at Real Mallorca.
