Kaka, Ancelotti departures could mirror Ronaldo and Fergie futures...

The summer transfer merry-go-round is in full swing and there's no shortage of big stories; Ronaldo continues to be linked with Real Madrid, but it seems the Spanish club have agreed a deal with AC Milan to sign Kaka.

United fans will be hoping Ronaldo stays put, but it's interesting to note that Chelsea are also said to trying to sign the Brazilian superstar. In the wake of Carlo Ancelotti's defection to the West London club it has become clear that Kaka has great faith in his former manager; whether or not the AC Milan forward moves to England one thing is clear, that is the bond between player and manager must have been a strong one and once it was broken perhaps it was inevitable that the former World Player of the Year would also move on, especially as he is hot property.

For his part, Ronaldo has recently spoken of the bond between himself and Ferguson, it begs the question will we see both of them leave Manchester United at the same time as looks likely to happen in the case of Kaka and Ancelotti? Fergie went on record stating that he wouldn't see Real Madrid a virus, so it seems highly unlikely the Scot would be willing to sacrifice his star player for any amount of money, so despite the nonsense coming out of Spain about supposed agreements between Ramon Calderon and Jorge Mendes, I personally do not see Ronaldo being sold this summer.

Kaka to United talk - is this a smokescreen to sell Ronaldo?

AC Milan's Brazilian talisman wears a t-shirt which sports the message "I belong to Jesus", it has been only revealed on very special occasions when the brilliant samba star does something remarkable on the pitch, which as it happens is quite often. The Brazilian’s affinity with Jesus is well documented, but today's really big news is that Kaka and or his agents have reportedly held talks with United about a prospective summer transfer to Old Trafford. Could Kaka soon belong to Jesus AND United?

Last summer moneybags Manchester City somehow managed to worm their way to the Milan negotiating table in a bid to prize Kaka away from Italy, but they never even got as far as talking to the player. The negotiations ended in acrimony and an embarrassing farce when City's CEO Gary Cook made a complete co*k of himself when claiming Milan had bottled it.

If City had pulled that transfer off who knows what would have happened, the prospect of pairing Robinho and Kaka, along with Elano would have been exciting to say the least. When the deal broke down Kaka was keen to publicly state his future was with Milan and that he'd only ever move if the club wanted to sell him.

After a disappointing season in which Milan missed out on Champions League football, you do wonder if Kaka is now ready to try a different experience and if so would England be a likely destination?

The Sun is today claiming Kaka has spoken of his affinity for the champions, saying: “They have some great players in Giggs and Scholes and especially Wayne Rooney. “One of my best friends, Anderson, is also there — how can anyone say no? “They are the English and European champions and a great club to play for.”

United fans will no doubt be rightly very sceptical about this story, Kaka, 27, is in his prime, when he has the pick of any club in the world, including Real Madrid, why would he want to come to rainy Manchester? Kaka, might even prefer the bright lights of London to Manchester...

You have to wonder if the story has been leaked to the Sun by agents working on behalf of Manchester United in the build-up to selling Ronaldo to Real Madrid in the summer, because if there was any truth in the Sun story, the player would not be publicly making statements of this nature for fear of upsetting the Milan supporters.

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if United are indirectly guilty of leaking this story to the media, because like many other fans I am becoming increasingly certain that Ronaldo will be sold this summer. The club fearing a supporter backlash might well have conceived a cunning Blackadder like plan to appease unhappy supporters by appearing to be in for Kaka - only for the plot to unravel in true Baldrick fashion.

I actually predict this particular plot will unravel a lot sooner than the summer as I'm fully expecting Kaka to deny the claims. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if the Kaka quotes have been embellished - and that is putting it politely.

While suggesting the source of this story is probably a lot closer to Manchester than Milan, we cannot rule out that in the worst practices of gutter journalism the whole story has been fabricated with a view to selling newspapers on an otherwise quiet Saturday morning.

If and it's a big if, the story turns out to be true and Kaka does sign then I'll be obviously more than happy.

Full story - Ronaldo out Kaka in?

Kaka wins top award after rule changes as Ronaldo comes runner-up..

United's Cristiano Ronaldo came, not surprisingly, runner-up to AC Milan's Brazilian star Kaka who has been named World footballer of The Year after winning the most votes to secure France Football magazine's prestigous Ballon d'Or award.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi came third in the voting.

Not a lot of fans will be aware of the recent rule changes which coincided with this year's competition. The Ballon d'Or came to being in 1955, prior to 2007 the award was more popularly known as the European Footballer of The Year. The rules stated that nominees had to play for a club within UEFA's jurisdiction, and until 1995 all nominated players had to be European.

However, from 1995 until 2006 all players at European clubs were eligible. In 2007 France Football magazine announced that they had opened to the competition to players from across the globe making it a truly international award.

On winning the 2007 Ballon d'Or Kaka secured the most votes from the group of 96 journalists of which and for the first time, only 53 were Europeans. The judges had to choose five players from the list of 2007 nominees. Each of the five selected nominees is then awarded either one, two, three, four and five points.

Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten of Holland and Michel Platini of France are the only players who managed to win the award three times. With the recent rule changes the competition has surely become a lot harder to win.

Kaka says Ronaldo should receive top award....

The press are awash with the news that Kaka is voting for Cristiano Ronaldo to receive the European Player of the Year award. George Best was the last United player to win the trophy in 1968, before him Bobby Charlton won it in 1966 and it was Denis Law in 1964.

It would be great if it happened, but will it? Surely Kaka himself will win it this year, Fabio Cannavaro is the current European Player of the Year.

Meanwhile, Steve Bruce is set to join Wigan Athletic after all parties agreed that this parting of the ways is the right thing to do. Speculation suggests that his new contract will be worth £8m over four years.

Ronaldo's bold prediction while Gary Neville is set to return...

We are not yet out of October and already Cristiano Ronaldo is predicting that United will retain the Premier League title and that the reds will go on to become the Champions of Europe for the third time. There's no doubting that United could go on to fulfil both predictions, but in order to do so Fergie will need a fair bit of luck in avoiding injuries to key players.

It wasn't so long ago that the Reds were deprived of all of their first-choice central defenders due to injury. Saha is another who seems to be almost permanently on the treatment table.

Those will elephant like memories will no doubt be able to recall former United striker 'Pancho Pearson' who always seemed to sustain hamstring injuries - though it's doubtful that Saha will ever be a massive fans favourite as the former Reds number nine was back in Tommy Doc's days as United manager. We will settle for the Frenchman being fit and available for the remainder of the campaign, because make no mistake we will need him.

On the subject of forwards, I mentioned earlier on in the week that Fergie must be planning to sign a new striker, not least because Ole has had to sadly call it a day. Anelka's name keeps on cropping up in reports, but with Bolton in such a dire state, it makes you wonder if they'd allow him to leave in January. There is of course the added problem that whoever Fergie signs will have to be available for the Champions League, Anelka has played in Europe this season already and wouldn't that make him cup-tied?

How about pushing out the boat by making Sunderland an offer that the Black-Cats cannot refuse for Kenwyne Jones? He is the nearest thing that I've seen to Drogba. His powerful style would give United a different option to the subtle inter-play that we're currently enjoying between Rooney and Tevez.

It's doubtful that Sunderland would allow the Trinidad and Tobago star to leave under any circumstances, given that he alone will more or less guarantee the club's safety in the top flight. Make no mistake though, Jones is going to be very hot property and so it is only a matter of time before stories linking him to the big four clubs start to make the back pages. Don't rule out United trying to broker some sort of player plus cash deal. Keane remains a big fan of young Reds defender Jonny Evans and there's talk of him going back on loan to Sunderland, United also have fringe midfield players like Fletcher and so just maybe there's a deal to be done for Jones.

Regarding Ronaldo's bold prediction, Owen Hargreaves is another key player and if he can keep fit, he could quickly form an excellent central midfield partnership with the hugely impressive Anderson in the Red Devils engine-room. United currently have Park and Scholes out injured and the latter is still obviously a hugely influential star, but of course the injury to the 'Ginger Prince' has given opportunities to Anderson and the returning Hargreaves to gel to together - so it isn't all bad.

Meanwhile there's some great news to report on our very own 'shop steward' one Gary Neville who has been out injured since last season. Despite Gary being out for so long, no other United player has laid claim to his place in the team, but Wes Brown has been doing an excellent job of late, so it looks like Neville's right-back slot is still very much his own if he can stay fit.

Ronaldo writes off Chelsea...

Cristiano Ronaldo has been talking to the press again, prior to the recent Roma game he made the mistake of telling the press that an un-named Roma player had begged for mercy during last season's Old Trafford encounter when United hammered Roma 7-1. Perhaps not surprisingly he was given the elbow and a black-eye 24 hours later when the two sides met.

Today the United winger said that you cannot write-off Chelsea, but then he went on to do just that: "Chelsea without Mourinho, that's a completely different team.
"You can never write Chelsea off, but I have a feeling that this will not be a good season for them."

Ronaldo was talking to Austrian newspaper Heute.

Sporting fans show class unlike United...

Manchester United somehow managed to scrape a 1-0 victory over Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Wednesday night. The Reds had Cristiano Ronaldo to thank for the win, his second half headed goal was United's highlight on the pitch in an otherwise disappointing performance.

Having scored against his former club Ronaldo bowed as if by way of apology to the home supporters, who in return stood and applauded him in appreciation of the gesture. It was a mark of respect from both the player and the home fans who later gave the United winger a standing ovation when he was withdrawn late on in the second half.

While the Sporting fans were showing class in the stands, their team was having the better of things on a surprisingly poor pitch that was cutting-up at every challenge for the ball. The pitch problems didn't seem to bother the home team, so much so that but for Edwin van der Sar in the United goal Sporting would have been two goals to the good. The Dutch stopper made two top-class saves, one in either half.

At the other end Ronaldo was by far United's best attacking player on the night as once again the Reds tactics in Europe left a lot to be desired, as did the overall performance of United's midfield and forward line.

Ryan Giggs was supposed to be playing in a five-man midfield, but in truth he looked lost and in the first half especially on the few occasions when he actually touched the ball he gave it away. Scholes was marginally better, but his passing was off-key too as was the totally ineffective Nani and Michael Carrick. On the night collectively, United's midfield was not much short of a shambles in an attacking and passing sense, the only plus point was that they did get behind the ball quickly when the opposition had the ball.

Ferguson had opted to start the game with just Rooney up front with Ronaldo supporting from midfield, but it simply did not work and Rooney was all too often left isolated.

Personally I'm hoping that once Hargreaves is fit again United will go with a 4-4-2 because against Sporting, and it has to be said on other occasions when Fergie has gone with 4-5-1 it does not seem to work.

If United had someone like Drogba, then playing with one striker might be an option, but the truth is they don't have a Drogba. Saha is the nearest thing United have to a proper out and out target-man. But Fergie isn't going to leave both Rooney and Tevez on the bench is he?

Apart from Ronaldo's goal and Van der Sar's saves, the other major plus point on the night was that the partnership of Vidic and Ferdinand, which is looking better by the week, as once again they were rock solid.

While United did not play well as a team on the night, they got the thing that mattered most, a win on their travels, which is the best possible way to start a European campaign.

Going into the game Graeme Sounses commented 'I honestly don't think Fergie knows what his best team is'. Quite. The thing is, the United manager has been without key players until this week. Now Fergie has the luxury of having a virtually fully fit squad barring Hargreaves and Neville, but both should be back soon and in an attacking sense United can only get better.

However, Fergie has to get his formation right in Europe. In 1999 United won the Champions League with two strikers up front in Yorke and Cole. We need to get back to that, because that is the United way. We do not do boring negative football well, we never have and I doubt we ever will.

Sporting Lisbon fans still love Ronaldo...

I have received an invitation from a Sporting Lisbon (Sporting Clube de Portugal) fan to ask a few questions and exchange views ahead of the Red Devils impending Champions League tie with his club. Unless you've been living underneath a stone you will know that United have signed two former Sporting players, firstly Cristiano Ronaldo and this summer Nani.

Nuno Neves is 32 years of age, he is a member of Juve Leo (Juventude Leonina) the Ultras of Sporting. He also writes a blog on his favourite team Bancada Sul

What was the general reaction of the Sporting Lisbon fans when it was revealed that Ronaldo and then Nani were to join United?

There was two different types of reaction. In the case of Ronaldo, in general we are sad with his exit, he already had an enormous potential and Sporting had the promise of a huge fee for a very young player. In the Nani's case, it was a good price too, but even so it was not so important to Sporting as it was when we sold Ronaldo.

Do the Sporting fans bear any grundges against the star duo after they joined United?

We supporters don't have any problems with the fact that they joined United, Sporting cannot compete with the economic power of Manchester United or the other rich clubs of Europe.

When Ronaldo and Nani return to face Sporting, will they receive a good reception from your fans?

They will have a enourmous reception, especially Cristiano Ronaldo who we have great care and consideration.

In 2003, United were supposed to have formed links with Sporting Lisbon, we the fans were told that this would lead to players being exchanged and more besides. However, in signing Nani this summer, the Red Devils had to invoke a get-out clause in Nani's contract. This wouldn't on the face of it seem to be the actions of two clubs who were in partnership. Were you the Sporting fans aware of the two clubs linking up? If you were aware, do you know if the two clubs are still working together in any way?

Well since that date, we Sporting fans, know the existence of that contract. In the time that it was linked, we thought some of dispensed players from United could came to Sporting squad, but we never exchanged anyone from Manchester United, to be sincere with you, we've never understood the link between the two clubs (JR adds - neither do we Nuno)

I understand that Sporting are not the team they were because of losing the likes of Nani and Ronaldo, who should United fans look out for when the two clubs meet?

Well, this is a new team this year, we have 10 new players, and there isn't yet a connection between all the players. But the best Sporting player is without a doubt Liedson. Here we say "Liedson resolve", it means "Liedson solves" or "Liedson decides"

How do Portuguese fans view Jose Mourinho and where do you see him managing in the next few seasons.

Well we have a love and hate relation with Jose Mourinho, we Sporting fans, never liked him. He was born to football as an assistant manager at Sporting when Bobby Robson was our coach, but eventually he went on to be the manager of Benfica and Porto - two teams that we Sporting fans hate. In one game when coaching Benfica, Mourinho did the finger salute to us the fans, when they scored a goal, this on the same day that that he was fired from Benfica. He didn't lose his job becouse of the teams results, he was going to sign a contract with Sporting, but we the fans went to Alvalade and said firmily that we did not want this kind of man leading Sporting. A few years later when he was Porto´s coach, he ripped off the team jersey of Rui Jorge, our left-sided defender in a game at the Alvalade. The incident took place in the dressing room, but it was something that we will never forget.

Nuno has submitted a review of Lisbon to the BigEasy Travel Guide for any fans who are travelling to the city.

Add your own Lisbon recommendations

Ronaldo signs new deal to end speculation about his future..

Great news for United fans and for the English game, because the world's current best player Cristiano Ronaldo has ended the speculation about his future by penning a new five year deal which runs until 2012.

Ronaldo has had several opportunities and reasons to have walked out on United, we've heard like many overseas stars, he's not impressed by the weather in the North West of England, he had that fall out with the press during the World Cup over team-mate Wayne Rooney, he fell out with former United star Ruud Van Nistelrooy, but none of those issues have stopped the lad from doing the right thing by signing this new deal.

On the playing front, it is the best news United fans could have looking forward to next season.