Nevertheless, Sky Sports reports that Rio is crossing his fingers and toes when it comes to his team-mate staying put. No wonder, considering how crucial Ronaldo has been to the team’s success in the past couple of seasons, but is there a hint of desperation in his words?

“Like everyone else, we would love him to be with us next season,” Ferdinand told Sky Sports News.

“When we go into pre-season I am sure Ronaldo will be there with us.

“Yes, I have spoken to him. We have spoken about everything else other from that (speculation). I will let him get on with his holidays.

“He is entitled to a good rest. I am sure when we come back to pre-season and we will have a laugh and a joke about it with him.

“But in all seriousness we want our best players to stay, and Ronnie falls into that category.

“He is a Manchester United player now, and long may it continue.”

How much longer will Cristiano Ronaldo be a Manchester United player for? Days, weeks, months or years? I’ll go for the months option, while the three parties sort out any legal obstacles that bar the player’s move from England to Spain.

The Sun report that the Spaniard has effectively told Barca to shove off, after seeing several Arsenal players linked with a move to the Nou Camp over the past few weeks. Fabregas doesn’t like his former club being linked to all and sundry, thinking the Catalan club should back off.

Fabregas, 21, said: “Barca should show us some respect.

“In recent weeks it has come out that Barca are in for at least seven Arsenal players and there’s no need for that.

“These things cause doubts in players’ minds and unsettle us. We do things differently, in secret. If the player wants to go, he’ll go anyway.”

Are Barcelona to blame for the speculation or is it more down to the newspapers, who are creating speculation out of nothing? It’s not as if the Spanish club are doing too much out of the ordinary by declaring the players that they would like to sign and they certainly haven’t shamelessly flirted with any Arsenal players on the scale of Real Madrid.

Wagner Ribeiro, Robinho’s agent, supposedly flew to London this week to spread the word about his client’s interest in leaving the Santiago Bernabéu. Robinho had been in talks with Real about a new contract, but the process has been very slow and could signal an exit for the unsettled 24-year-old, with Arsenal and Chelsea reportedly waiting in the wings.

Fans may agree that it would be good to see Robinho in the Premiership, but his agent is obviously drumming up interest to help his client gain a more lucrative contract. A few factors run against his agent’s claims.

Arsenal have made moves for the forward before, most recently in 2007 when the Gunners and AC Milan battled it out, only for Real to decide to hold on to the player. Should they actually make a move to bring Robinho to the Emirates stadium again, there would be stumbling blocks in the form of limited transfer funds and wage ceilings, pushing Stamford Bridge to the front of the ‘queue’, through the tenuous link of the arrival of ex-Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Also, Real maintain that he will not leave, with president Roman Claderon stating:

He is not transferable. We are not going to sell Robinho.

So is Robinho making moves to switch the Premiership, or is his agent trying to make himself some money from Real?

Wesley Sneijder released a statement on his personal site, rejecting claims he was on his way to Manchester as part of a deal to bring Ronaldo to the Santiago Bernabéu. He told his fans that, despite interest from the newly-crowned European champions after a sparkling display at Euro 2008, he will remain in Madrid:

I’d like to comment briefly on the reports and rumours that I might be going to Manchester United as part of some kind of exchange deal

As I’ve said already, when I left Ajax, all I wanted was to go to Real Madrid. They are the best club in the world. And now that I’m here, all I want is to win as many trophies as I can with them and wear the white shirt for as long as possible.

In short, I’m flattered to be linked to Manchester United…but it’s not happening. End of story.

Many different types of deal have been flying about with regard to Ronaldo’s protracted move to Real. Some have been as high as €100million (£80million), others have including Real players, including Sneijder himself, Sergio Ramos and Brazillian Robinho. Sneijder proclaimed his objection to Robinho being mentioned, hoping the two linkwith Ronaldo this coming season:

The same rumours have been doing the rounds about Robinho. Well, I hope he stays too, and I hope that Cristiano Ronaldo joins us at the Bernabéu.

I’m sure United fans would like to see Sneijder or Robinho (or both) at Old Trafford, whilst also pocketing £40million or so. Yet, does Sneijder’s snub show that United are always second to Real Madrid’s reputation and money in terms of attracting players?